RockNAssist Initiative

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The Baddest Creative Motivation...

Using Our Talents to Change the World

GaptoothDiva Entertainment is partnering up with local artist, promoters, venues, and entrepreneurs in an effort to awareness and community involvement for The RockNAssist Initiative. Thousands of people in Richmond, Virginia alone are suffering through difficult times. Most are having trouble affording basic food essentials necessary to survive. With the rise of gas prices and the current state of the economy, it is all of our responsibilities to volunteer our time and our efforts to ensure that all families can sit together every night and enjoy a meal together, have clothes on their backs, and the support of the community behind them. Through our hard work and small donations, we can make a positive impact on our community in a very big way.

The RockNAssist Initiative will provide you with the latest community projects and activism opportunities for you to play a role in building a better tomorrow. These non-profits are promoted and assisted in their marketing and promotional efforts free of charge, in order to elevate awareness for their cause. Please forward any information on eligible community projects to our website, so that we may include them in our listing.

Community 50/50, Inc. is a mentoring program geared toward the betterment of youth/families in the Richmond area and surrounding localities. Our programs service youth ages 5-17 and their families. The lack of organized youth activities in urban neighborhoods, and the rise of single-parent families and families with two working parents have all reduced the number of positive adult role models. Today, twenty-five percent of children live with a single parent, and over one-half of children will live with only one parent before they are eighteen years old (Tierney, Grossman and Research NL*). Our program was created to provide these role models and help children develop socially, emotionally, physically and mentally. Our mentor’s help youth learn to understand and communicate their feelings, to relate to their peers, and to develop respectable and appropriate relationships with other youth and adults.

http://www.community5050.org

The Giving Heart, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was launched in 2003 with the intent to distribute needed items to those in need around the Greater Richmond Metropolitan Area. After the demise of a local Thanksgiving event, The Giving Heart saw the need to offer its own version; encouraging anyone to come to the table for food and fellowship. The Community Thanksgiving Feast began our main distribution point for putting needed items directly into the hands of those who deserved them.

http://www.thegivingheart.org

GaptoothDiva RockNAssist Food Drive

Although social services plays a vital role in providing supplemental nutrition assistance to low-income families, there are also families in the community who do not qualify for such benefits and/or are experiencing temporary set-backs that could utilize our help. Richmond, Virginia prides itself on being “one city, our city”, so with that said – we should all apply the same creativity and diligence that we hold for our individual business models and contribute a small amount of our time to solving a very vital issue impacting our peers and fans in our city.

United States Hunger Facts

In 2009, 50.2 million Americans (up from 35.5 million in 2006), including 17.2 million children, are food insecure, or didn’t have the money or assistance to get enough food to maintain active, healthy lives.

In 2009, 65% of adults reported that they had been hungry, but did not eat because they could not afford enough food.

In 2008 alone, a rise of about 6% in the price of groceries has led the poor to adopt a variety of survival strategies, from buying food that is beyond its expiration date to visiting food banks.

About 33.7 million people in America participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — a program that provides monthly benefits to poor households to purchase approved food items from authorized food stores. According to the USDA, the average benefit per person was $124 per month and the Federal government spent over $53.6 billion on the program in 2009.

America’s Second Harvest, the nation’s major food bank network, annually provides food to over 23 million people. That is more than the population of the state of Texas.

5.6 million households obtained emergency food from food pantries at least once during 2009.

The USDA recently found that about 96 billion pounds of food available for human consumption in the United States were thrown away by retailers, restaurants, farmers and households over the course of one year. Fresh fruits and vegetables, fluid milk, grain products, and sweeteners accounted for 2/3 of these losses.

Hungry adults miss more work and consume more health care than those who don’t go hungry.

Kids who experience hunger are more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression, behavior problems, and other illness.

The total cost of hunger to American society is said to be about $90 billion a year.

In contrast, it would only cost about $10 billion to $12 billion a year to virtually end hunger in our nation.

Sources:

United States Department of Agriculture

Bread for the World

America’s Second Harvest

Washington Post

Meals for Millions

GaptoothDiva Entertainment intends on collecting frozen perishable and non-perishable food items from various location throughout the city starting Fall 2011. Dates and locations of RockNAssist drop-offs will be posted each week on www.GaptoothDiva.com and via the RockNAssist Facebook page. If you can not meet our campaign representative on the scheduled date, you can also make a scheduled personal donation.

To schedule an individual donation, email GaptoothDiva Entertainment at GaptoothDiva@hotmail.com