Chip-In for Hungry KidsTM - Our Social Cause
Our History of Giving
Every member of the Madhouse Munchies team has expressed a continued interest in committing resources to supporting the organizations and efforts intended to assist children in the United States who are not adequately fed. These efforts to donate available resources began with our company's founding in 1996 and are reflected in the hundreds of local product and food donations which we have given to schools, foodbanks, and charitable causes which directly benefit and support children.
As our company grows within our Vermont community and beyond to numerous East Coast communities, we remain committed to the development of an effective platform which will allow us to assist in the fight against children's hunger in the US.
Chip-In for Hungry KidsTM is a narrowly-defined, thorough and creatively devised platform which allows the grassroots Madhouse customer to be a part of our commitment. Financial support is directed to the communities within which we sell our products and the consumer is invited to cast a vote in helping to determine the recipient cause and organization for these funds.
Our new Madhouse bags now feature the tag Chip-In for Hungry KidsTM. Registered participants in the program will be rewarded for their involvement!
Fund-Raising Program:
- Consumers who purchase our products will be directed to an interactive web-site which allows them to key into their community area and review the pre-approved organizations which may be eligible for Madhouse funds.
- Consumers "register" over the site and cast their vote. Votes are counted quarterly and funds are issued to the prescribed organizations on a vote-weighted basis.
Fund-Drive Program: Raising funds through the direct door-to-door sale of Madhouse
A conventional fund-drive product program will also be administered through the Chip-In for Hungry KidsTM program:
- Organizations will be able to mount door-to-door cause drives where sale of Madhouse products drives fund-raising.
Why Children's Hunger? Consider the Issue Underfoot:
All information cited below represents "Child Hunger Fact Sheet: National Hunger Awareness Day" from www.hungerday.org
- One in four people in a soup kitchen line is a child (Hunger in America 2001).
- Of the more than 23 million emergency food recipients served by America's Second Harvest Program, more than 9 million are children.
- In 2000 approximately 13 million children were food insecure, meaning they were hungry or at risk of Hunger (USDA, Household Food Security in the United States, March 2001).
- Among (client) households with children, 76% are food insecure and 37% are experiencing hunger. (Hunger in America 2001).
- In 2000, slightly more than 50% of all food stamp recipients were children. About 68% of these children were school age. Most of the food stamp households with children were headed by single adults, with half of these households receiving cash assistance in addition to food stamp benefits. (USDA Food and Nutrition Service, Charachteristics of Food Stamp Households: Fiscal Year 2000, October 2001).
- Research indicates that even mild undernutrition experienced by young children during critical periods of growth may lead to reductions in physical growth and affect brain development (The Link Between Nutrition and Cognitive Development of Children, 1998, Center on Hunger and Poverty, Brandeis University).