JillUser wrote an article about an idea to replace food stamps (Link). Her ideas, and the ideas for respondents are insightful and I would highly recommend this article.

There is, however, an excellent private organization that is working to solve the problems of America's hungry. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, it is called America's Second Harvest (Link ). Second Harvest is celebrating its 25th year,  and this from a press release on the website:

In just 25 years, our Network has blossomed from the vision of one man and a single food bank into an intricate Network of more than 200 food banks and food rescue organizations serving all fifty states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.  Moreover, the Network has collectively served nearly 16 billion meals to more than 250 million people.

This has been done largely through private donations and grants. Local food banks are charged a small administrative fee (14 cents a pound in 2003), and they can select from a wide variety of items that were donated to Second Harvest from national vendors and manufacturers. Much of the food is nutritious; often the reason the items were donated is as small as a printing error on the packaging. Second Harvest also purchases some items that it makes available at a wholesale cost to the food banks.

I was involved with Second Harvest for over 5 years, and served on a local community action board. I can testify firsthand as to the quality of the food they make available. They have done an excellent job of distributing quality food to food banks throughout the country, and are deserving of your support.

To support Second Harvest, I suggest you patronize businesses that donate their surplus to Second Harvest (Note: WalMart, the world's largest retailer, does NOT donate their surplus...company policy). Consider, also, donations to offset their costs (they often give grants to food banks to offset the administrative costs when available). They are a very practical private solution to the problem of the nation's hungry.