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Contributors
Leela StakeLeela is a director who helps businesses innovate, collaborate and communicate to be more successful. She’s based in San Francisco, has worked in six Asian countries and is interested in the relationship between long-term business success and community prosperity.
Laura PalantoneLaura is a member of our corporate communications team and is based in New York.
James RobinsonJames is a director who brings ten years of experience working on CR strategy and communications in New York, Beijing, and Jakarta. He looks at how CR is employed as part of broader business strategy and has a particular interest in the evolving role of technology and innovation in managing social and environmental issues.
Julie JackA director in APCO's New York office, Julie works on corporate responsibility with a focus on business strategy and emerging issues and trends. Her currents interests and work focus on sustainable agriculture and supply chain management, the integration of CR and financial communications, and CR in the consumer goods space.
Ellen MignoniEllen is a senior director and helped build APCO’s global corporate responsibility practice. She works primarily with APCO’s corporate clients on business alignment and corporate responsibility, stakeholder engagement and partnership development, and communication and outreach.
More Bang for the Buck
Who doesn’t like the idea of getting more for your dollar? I know I always give myself a pat on the back when my grocery cashier tells me, “You saved $35 this week!” For me, it’s a sense of accomplishment with little consequence either way, but for many families, savings can mean the difference between a meal on the table and going to bed hungry.
Luckily there are organizations like Share Our Strength®, a national nonprofit whose goal is to end childhood hunger in America. One of their many programs is Cooking Matters®, which empowers low-income families with the skills, knowledge and confidence to prepare healthy and affordable meals.
Many of Cooking Matters graduates rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) and/or benefits from Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (better known as WIC) to buy food for their families. Cooking Matters’ curriculum focuses heavily on showing these families how to best use their benefits – helping them to get more for less.
The curriculum works. In early 2012 Cooking Matters partnered with APCO Insight and Channing Johnson Photography to interview and document five graduates as they shopped for groceries and cooked dinner for their families. APCO saw firsthand how these families are able to stretch their dollars. Lareese Cathey, a graduate from Maryland, gave a great example, telling us how before attending Cooking Matters a $6 WIC fruit and vegetable check would cover two items. Now, she is able to buy two packages of frozen fruit, two cans of fruit and a pack of applesauce with that same amount.
Ultimately, programs like these are a win-win-win – a win for the families, a win for society and even a win for the taxpayer.
Catogories Health and tagged APCO Insight, cooking matters, healthy eating, nutrition, Share Our Strength
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