In response to “Value-Added Food for Hungry Families”: Does your host campus participate in any annual food drives? What role do you think these annual projects play in addressing the year-round issue of food (in)security in our communities? What additional projects or initiatives might a campus consider engaging in to deepen their commitment to issues of food (in)security?
Mount Union does Trick or Treat for Canned Goods every October with the neighborhoods surrounding the University. This year, we collected and donated 3,845 non-perishable food items and donated them to both the newly launched Alliance Community [Food] Pantry and the Domestic Violence Shelter. This food helped fill in the gaps for the Food Pantry right before they opened and ensured that they were able to serve the 2,000+ people in the households who visited the pantry in November for the first 3 weeks it was open.
It’s difficult to do purely campus food drives though because the food given, while wonderful, is not much and often consists of Ramon Noodles (ah, dorm life).
The biggest gap we see of course is in the spring when the need is high and donations are low. We need to get creative and think of something we can do in March/April that would bring in a large number of donations to fill this huge need.
Our campus is really taking the initiative and getting our students involved in the new pantry through service-learning classes as well as donations. One class’ work will help create a website for the pantry, as well as fill other technical computer needs. Another class will be tackling the serving of our Spanish speaking population by creating various tools for the pantry to use in Spanish. And a third class just finished a review of the pantry and put together a plan on instituting family friendly, community focused art under the ideal that “hearts can starve as well as bodies”.
In response to “Growing Together”: Author Christine Muhlke states, “Class issues are inevitable with a movement driven by the college educated, regardless if they can sweat $25 for the chicken they believe is the only kind of chicken people should be eating. And the fact remains that those who are growing, distributing and serving this food can’t always afford to buy it. The idea of good food for all is still fairly (organic, heirloom apple) pie in the sky.” What factors contribute to Muhlke’s understanding of food (in)security as a class issue? What steps can we take on our campuses to better address the role that socioeconomic status plays in regular access to fresh, healthy food?
The only way to truly make organic, fair trade food items both accessible to all classes as well as a national norm is for the government to get involved and subsidize the cost. We see this everyday when we wonder why it is cheaper to buy Twinkies than it is to buy carrots: government subsidizing of things such as flour and corn syrup, yet not things such as fruits and vegetables, ensures that things that were once extremely expensive and considered “high class” food (chocolate, sugar, oil, salt) are now the only things many of the poorest in America can afford to buy and feed to their families. Of course, this brings things such as lobbying and kick-backs into play and makes one wonder if the government ever actually WOULD subsidize organic and fair trade food items.
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