WILL-TV, public television for central Illinois, launched programs to raise awareness of hunger. At least 79,000 people in eastern Illinois and another 105,000 people in central Illinois don’t have enough to eat, according to a study by Feeding America. An increasing number of people are seeking help. WILL-TV and radio will feature programs the week of Nov. 15 that respond to the problem of hunger both in Illinois and around the nation.
Included in the programs is Growing Hope Against Hunger, a family program from Sesame Workshop, which features a story about Elmo as he learns how the struggle against hunger affects a friend, a new Muppet named Lily. Documentary segments with four real families who have experienced the challenge of hunger and are finding strategies and resources that help are also included.
WILL’s David Inge will host Growing Hope Against Hunger: An Illinois Response, live in the studio with a panel of people in central Illinois who are working to fight hunger as well as a studio audience of others involved in the effort through both faith-based organizations, nonprofits, businesses and government programs.
Interspersed within the live studio show will be video stories from Illinois. The stories included:
- The work of the Wesley Evening Food Pantry in Urbana.
- The way the SNAP program (formerly known as food stamps) works in central Illinois and the stigma attached to SNAP that deters people from applying.
- The efforts to combat rural hunger, including a mobile food pantry run by the Central Illinois Foodbank in Springfield.
Panelists will include Tracy Smith, state director of Feeding Illinois; Donna Camp, director of the Wesley Evening Food Pantry; Craig Gundersen, professor of Agricultural & Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois; and Brittani Evans, outreach coordinator for McLean County SNAP.
For more information, visit the website here.
You can watch a video clip here.
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