2010's Race for Hunger to feature

Battle of the Bravest

The Piggly Wiggly store located at 815 Center St. in Grayslake will be hosting the 12^th Annual Race For Hunger event at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday February 25, 2010.  The Race For Hunger is an event that has been held each year in order to raise public awareness of Food Check Out Week.

The theme of this year's Food Check Out Week is "Stretching Your Grocery Dollar with Healthy, Nutritious Food."

According to the latest statistics from the Agriculture Department, it takes just five weeks for the average American to earn enough disposable income to pay for his or her family's food supply for the entire year, which is equal to just under 10% of their disposable income for the entire year.  Consumers in other countries spend a larger percentage of their disposable income on their annual supplies of food, including 14% in France, 15% in Japan, 35% in China, 37% in the Philippines, and 46% in Indonesia. 

Applying the current statistic to the calendar year means the average U.S. household will have earned enough disposable income - the portion of income available for spending or saving after taxes are paid - to pay for its annual food supply by Food Check Out Week, which is February 21-27, 2010.

While America's farmers and ranchers are committed to producing safe, healthy food, they share the same issue of putting nutritious meals on the table while sticking to a budget.  Knowing your food budget, planning balanced meals, making a list and shopping at competitively priced grocery stores with high-quality produce are just a few strategies to achieve better nutrition with less money.  According to the USDA, the price of unprepared, readily available fresh fruits and vegetables has remained stable compared to dessert or snack foods.

Farmers and ranchers receive only 19 cents out of every dollar spent on food at home.  The rest goes for costs beyond the farm gate, including wages and materials for production, processing, marketing, transportation, and distribution.  In 1980, farmers and ranchers received 31 cents on the dollar for every dollar spent on food.

Each year, the Race for Hunger features an eight-minute race between two individuals to see who can fill shopping carts with products that contain corn, soybeans, wheat, and oats.  The contestant whose carts have the highest monetary value will be named as this year's winner.  The real winners of the event will be the local food pantries that will receive the groceries, which will be purchased by the Lake County Farm Bureau.

This year's race will pit Chief John Christian of the Grayslake Fire Protection District versus Chief Timothy Sashko of the Mundelein Fire Department.  As has been the case at previous Race for Hunger events, these two competitors will race throughout the Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Grayslake to see who can collect the most non-perishable food items in a frantic eight-minute race.  The contestant who is able to collect the highest monetary value during the eight-minute race will be named as this year's winner.  The Lake County Farm Bureau will then purchase all of the groceries that are collected by the competitors.  Once all of the non-perishables have been rung up and bagged, they will be delivered to local food pantries chosen by the competitors.

The Lake County Farm Bureau's 12^th Annual Race For Hunger is a great way to acknowledge the fact that we are blessed to have the safest and most affordable food supply in the world, so please come out and join us for this Battle of the Bravest!