Indiana Hunger Summit INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Community leaders and people from across Indiana will gather Wednesday, Sept. 2, for the second annual Indiana Hunger Summit to address food insecurity across the state. The daylong event, scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., comes as a report from Fe eding America estimates that nearly 1 million people in Indiana do not know where their next meal is coming from. The summit aims to connect people from agriculture, government, education, health care and local communities to develop concrete action plans. To improve statewide accessibility, this year’s summit will take place simultaneously across three locations: the Indiana State Fairgrounds, Purdue Fort Wayne and the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville. Heidi Spahn, the Founder and Task Force Chair of the Indiana Hunger Summit, joined Daybreak on Tuesday to discuss the mission. She said the organization developed the vision for the statewide event years before bringing it to fruition in 2025. The inaugural summit at the Indiana State Fairgrounds drew 260 attendees after organizers initially hoped to gather 100 participants from across the food value chain, ranging from farmers and producers to last-mile distributors. “The Indiana Hunger Summit is fairly new,” Spahn said. “This was something that I had a vision about doing about four or five years ago, and we brought it to fruition in 2025 for the first inaugural statewide hunger summit.” Spahn says participants are “really trying to move from conversations to solutions in tackling food insecurity across the state.” Following the response to the first event, organizers expanded access for this year’s gathering by adding regional hosts at Purdue Fort Wayne and the University of Southern Indiana. Spahn emphasized the importance of convening groups that do not typically work together, including representatives from agriculture, government, education, health care and the general public. “This year, what we’re doing is not only having it here at the local Indiana State Fairgrounds, who’s running the venue, but also expanding the reach,” Spahn said. “We’re bringing people together to sit at a table that aren’t normally together. So everybody from agriculture to government to education to health care to individuals, right? We can all make a difference in tackling food insecurity in the state.” According to Spahn, food insecurity affects residents in every county in Indiana, impacting children, adults and seniors alike who may face unexpected financial expenses. “There’s probably, you know, there’s not really a face to hunger, right? It can be a child. It can be an adult. It can be a senior. It could be your neighbor, right, that had some unfortunate expenses and they found their place in a place where they can’t afford food,” Spahn said. “This really does impact every county across the state and really looking at how can we come together, making sure that people know that there is a big need and we all have something that we can do to help.” The summit will take place Wednesday, Sept. 2, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Registration is $25 per person, which covers lunch, with sign-ups accessible through the Agri Institute website for both individuals and organizations. “We’d love to have both organizations and individuals there and really to move from conversations to solutions, come up with an action plan and really network and collaborate to make a difference,” Spahn said. Heidi Spahn, founder and Task Force Chair of the Indiana Hunger Summit. (WISH Photo) This story was formatted for WISHTV.com using AI-assisted tools. Our editorial team reviews and edits all content published to ensure it meets our journalistic standards for accuracy and fairness. ...read more read less