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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

State Leaders Come Together to Help Kentuckians Fight Hunger

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Wednesday, February 20, 2019   

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Today is the sixth annual "Hunger Free Kentucky Day," when state leaders rally the public to fight hunger. Research says one in six people and one in five kids in the Bluegrass State are considered food insecure – that means about 700,000 Kentuckians, including 200,000 children, don't consistently have enough food for a healthy lifestyle.

Tamara Sandberg, executive director of the nonprofit Feeding Kentucky, says the problem of hunger is hidden but widespread across the state.

"So, it could be the child sitting next to your child in class, who hadn't had anything to eat since school lunch was served yesterday,” says Sandberg. “It could be the person next to you in line at the grocery store, who her husband just had a car accident and so, they're needing help putting food on the table."

One way to help is to contribute to the Farms to Food Banks Trust Fund, which buys farmers' excess fruits and vegetables and delivers them to food-bank locations.

You can donate a portion of your tax refund by checking a box on your state income-tax form. Last year, Kentuckians donated $19,000; this year's goal is $25,000.

State Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles says the Kentucky Legislature kicks in $500,000 a year, but every donation means more families get fed.

"We encourage Kentuckians to 'check off hunger' by checking the box on their state income-tax forms to contribute to the Farms to Food Banks Trust Fund,” says Quarles. “That gives us a little more resources to help buy food that would otherwise rot in the fields, and give it to those in need."

Today, Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear also announced the third annual Legal Food Frenzy – a competition between his office, the Secretary of State's office and others in the legal community to raise money for food banks. It runs March 11 through 18.

"The Legal Food Frenzy is designed to support food banks at the time when they need help the most,” says Beshear. “Right when our students get out of schools, where they are guaranteed two or even three meals a day. And it prevents them from then going hungry in the summer."

The campaign's goal is $100,000. To raise awareness even further, Governor Matt Bevin has proclaimed February as "Hunger Free Kentucky Month."


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