CANTON -- September is national Hunger Action Month and GardenShare, based in Canton, is partnering with national and local organizations to ask people to take action to fight hunger in their communities, all month long.

Hunger Action Month is an opportunity to join a movement that can have a real and lasting impact on the effort to ensure all Americans, including neighbors here in the North Country, have access to a healthy and nutritious diet.

"People often think of hunger in the US as primarily an urban problem," said GardenShare Executive Director Gloria McAdam. "But you only have to look around in the North Country to know that's not true. These counties are among the poorest in New York State and while there are many food pantries and free will dinners across the area, the rural and remote nature of the region means that even all of these programs are not solving the problem. At GardenShare, we believe we can solve the problem of hunger, but only if a wide cross-section of the community is involved, and only if we tackle the problem from a variety of angle, including public policy."

A few ways to get involved: Sept. 3 is National Hunger Action Day and everyone is encouraged to wear orange, the color of hunger awareness, to draw attention to these important activities.

Spoontember, a social media activation to engage the public and help raise awareness of the one in six Americans struggling with hunger.

Spoontember supporters can share a “spoon selfie” – an image of themselves balancing a spoon on their nose – along with hunger-related statistics and challenge a friend to do the same.

On Sept. 28, GardenShare is partnering with Cinema 10 in Potsdam to show the movie, "Just Eat It, A Food Waste Story," followed by a facilitated discussion.

In addition, GardenShare has developed a calendar of activities for the month, "30 Ways in 30 Days," which can be found at www.gardenshare.org.