Seder dedicated to hunger awareness

The event will benefit Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — A Seder dedicated to child nutrition and hunger awareness is planned from noon to 1:30 p.m. April 7 at the Jewish Community Center, 505 Gypsy Lane.

Co-sponsors are the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Youngstown Jewish Federation, Jewish Community Center, Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley, WFMJ-TV 21, Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger, B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

The cost to attend is a nonperishable food item to benefit Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley.

Donations received at the Seder will go to Mazon, which will give a matching amount to Second Harvest. For more information, contact Gail Froomkin at (330) 746-3251, ext. 153. Lunch will be served; reservations are requested by calling (330) 746-3251, ext. 195, by Wednesday.

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs will host a national child nutrition Seder during the first week of April on Capitol Hill before Congress takes its Easter break. It will focus on educating younger participants on the general state of hunger in America and older participants on legislation to help combat childhood hunger.

The effort to remedy childhood hunger ties to the essence of Passover and the Jews’ exodus out of enslavement in Egypt. Achieving freedom from hardship, which could be slavery or food insecurity, requires confronting and overcoming challenges.

The Child Nutrition Reauthorization Bill, coming up for reauthorization this year, is one of the most important anti-hunger bills that Congress considers.

Through this legislation, Congress will reauthorize programs such as school breakfast and lunch for low-income children; summer and after-school feeding programs that provide both food and enrichment activities for disadvantaged children; the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, which provides vital nutritious foods to moms, infants and children; and other anti-hunger programs that target children.

Community activism to gain support for this bill is a goal of the Seder. President Barack Obama set a national goal of ending child hunger in America by 2015.