Join us at the NO MAS HAMBRE Summit on December 7 in Washington DC!

Posted on 11/26/2012 @ 11:50 AM

By Alfredo Estrada, Editor, LATINO Magazine

Each year, most of us celebrate the holiday season with our families at tables groaning with roast turkeys and stuffing, giving thanks for the privilege.

Yet last year nearly 50 million other Americans had nothing to celebrate, and went hungry. And for Latinos the figures are even grimmer. About 26.2% of Latino households faced hunger, almost twice as much as other Americans. Yet for many of us, this overwhelming health disparity remains a dark secret. Few issues impact us and our families so directly, so viscerally. It's literally a matter of life and death. But hunger in the Latino community is rarely discussed.

Why is this? We are a proud people, and the thought that we can not feed our young children and aging parents, much less ourselves, is deeply shameful. And many undocumented immigrants avoid government-supported assistance for fear of being deported. But there is another reason. Many Latinos simply don't know the facts. Clearly, Latino media has not done enough to inform our community that almost one in three of us go hungry. Yet if Latinos don't know, they can't help themselves. As for those of us who do know, unless we get involved, we can't help those less fortunate.

LATINO Magazine has addressed this lack of awareness and engagement through an initiative called NO MAS HAMBRE. Its objective is to raise awareness of hunger in our community through articles in LATINO Magazine, our website at NoMasHambre.com, and our annual Summit, which brings together Latino community leaders, hunger relief experts, government officials, corporate executives, and ordinary people to develop a Latino anti-hunger agenda.

I invite you to join us at the 2012 NO MAS HAMBRE Summit, to be held on Friday, December 7, 2012 at the Capital Hilton, 1001 16th St. NW in Washington, DC. Our second annual conference starts at 9 AM with invited speakers such as Max Finberg, USDA and will continue with interactive panels and roundtable discussions throughout the day. There is a complimentary lunch at 12-1 PM and the Summit will conclude at 3:00 PM. All are welcome and there is no cost to attend. To register, please go to http://www.latinomagazine.com/registration.htm.

I hope to see you there! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me at ajestrada@latinomagazine.com. ¡Gracias!