Hunger in America 2014

Posted on by abbynaf

Fresh-Fruits-and-VegetablesFor this project, I worked closely with our Public Policy Coordinator, the project lead, on shaping the overall messaging of this report, selecting stories based on the data reported, editing language, and creating sharable social graphics based on the work by our designer. I also created the online version of this report, working to create an online experience that encourages readers to dig deeper and share data from the study with their own communities.

This national study comes out every four years and our brochure represents that data for Western Washington. Used across departments within Food Lifeline and externally by our partners in hunger relief, the Hunger in America study helps shape conversation around food insecurity and the people who use food assistance programs.

You can read the Hunger in America 2014 report or download the brochure.

Food Frenzy Results Video

Posted on by abbynaf

As a thank you to the companies who participated in the Food Frenzy fundraising competition, I worked with staff to create this video and blog post. To create the video, we printed out the names of each of the 96 companies and then took photos of each one, as staff celebrated. I then edited together the photos using iMovie to create the video below:

What do elephants, whales, and bears have to do with Grocery Rescue?

Posted on by abbynaf

In celebration of Earth Day, I created an infographic and blog post to help our audience understand just how much food the Grocery Rescue program at Food Lifeline rescued.

What do elephants, whales, and bears have to do with Grocery Rescue?

Earth-Day-Infographic-FINAL

No one likes the idea of good food going to waste, especially those of us working to stop hunger. The bad news is that 40% of the food produced in the United States is going to waste every year. The good news is that Food Lifeline is finding creative solutions to redirect this surplus of wholesome food out of the waste stream and to those in need. Whether it’s crooked carrots or yogurt approaching its sell-by-date, our Grocery Rescue program makes it easy for stores to donate food instead of throwing it way. Read the full post

Have you ever tried to get a 3 year old to eat lima beans?

Posted on by abbynaf

Written as a part of my work at Food Lifeline, this post was first published in Mar 2014.

Have You Ever Tried to Get a 3 Year Old to Eat Lima Beans?

IMG_0807 If you have then you know that getting vegetables into kids can be a tough problem to solve. Some nutrition experts say it can take 15-20 tastes of a new food before children adapt to it, and that takes persistence. Here at Food Lifeline, we are tenacious about getting food to people in need, including fresh fruits and vegetables to hungry kids. We don’t just try a program once and give up, but we continue to adapt, edit and tweak to make sure our food assistance programs meet the needs of our community. Two strong new partners are making it possible for us to not only get more healthy food to underserved kids, but also make sure that the food provided will actually get eaten. Read the full post.

3 things you should know about volunteering

Posted on by abbynaf

Written as a part of my work at Food Lifeline, this post was first published in Jan 2014.

3 things you should know about volunteering

Apple Collage When you volunteer at Food Lifeline you know two things for sure:

You will work hard – Repacking food can be hard work and volunteers have been known to count their shift at Food Lifeline as their workout for the day.

You will have fun – Working side by side with your family, church group, co-workers or the friendly strangers you just met during training often makes for a fun time of bonding, laughing and a strong sense of accomplishment.

One thing you might not realize is… Read the full post.

Food Lifeline Website Overhaul

Posted on by abbynaf

Website CollageOne of the major tasks of my first year at Food Lifeline was the complete overhaul and redesign of the Food Lifeline website. First designed in 1999, with a slight design refresh in 2008, this website badly needed an update. Working with the Marketing & Communications Director, who spearheaded, the project, I assisted with creating the new website structure and content strategy.

As a part of my work, I also dove headfirst into learning Drupal, the PHP based CMS, we selected for the site. Before our launch in Jan 2014, I assisted in writing, shared editing tasks and did much of the work of creating the new pages, posts, events and other content for the new site.

Since our redesign, we have seen a 33% increase in visits and an 18% decrease in bounce rates to the website.