READ - Food For Thought

Literacy

The Closing of the American Book, New York Times, July 10, 2004
A survey released on Thursday reports that reading for pleasure is way down in America among every group -- old and young, wealthy and poor, educated and uneducated, men and women, Hispanic, black and white. More info >

Learning, Adaptation Can Change Brain Connections, CMU Researchers Say
Thursday, December 10, 2009
By Mark Roth, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Scientists used to think that the structure of the human brain didn't change much after infancy.  But in the past 20 years, there has been an explosion of studies showing just how adaptable and malleable the human brain is, and one of the most intriguing was published today by Carnegie Mellon University scientists. More info >

Nutrition/Hunger Relief

NYC Hunger Experience 2009: A Year In Recession
40 percent of New Yorkers, 3.3 million people, are having difficulty affording food, a 60 percent increase since 2003. At the same time, 93 percent of food pantries and soup kitchens in the city have seen an increase in first-time visitors over the past year. With many of the measures that have supplied increased food assistance over the past year, such as the economic stimulus, set to expire, sustainable solutions are needed to address the underlying causes of the entrenched food poverty problem.
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NYC Hunger Safety Net 2007 Summary: A Food Poverty Focus (HSN 2007)
More info >

Chefs Move to Schools: A nutritious program kids can sink their teeth into
Friday, June 4, 2010
By Jane Black, Washington Post
It was nearly midnight on a bitter January night when a group of Washington's most celebrated chefs assembled around a long table at downtown hotspot Brasserie Beck to debrief one another on their recent White House mission. Enlisted by the first lady's office in her war against childhood obesity, each had eaten llunch at a D.C. public school. The unanimous verdict was fairly predictable: no stars. More info >

Pediatric Disease Research

Childrens Cancers (www.cookiesforkidscancer.org)
Cancer remains the number one disease that claims the lives of our children. Each year cancer kills more children under the age of 18 than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis and AIDS combined. More info >