Program aims to address local food insecurity
This awful pandemic has brought an immediacy, an urgency to the plight of food shortages in ways that former studies, agency reviews never could
Not long ago I lost a dear friend and an amazing neighborhood activist to COVID-19. Michelle Cook had struggled for a while with health issues, and many friends and neighbors in Tidewater Gardens worried for her. But even though she was small in stature, Ms. Cook continued to be a force of nature right to the end advocating, counseling, pushing for change and a solution to the stark inequity and disparity in food sources suffered by residents of St. Paul’s Quadrant.
I met Ms. Cook after I had started as a coordinator with the Five Points Partnership and later as I served as a founder and general manager of the Five Points Community Farm Market.
She emailed me at the market one afternoon many years ago and asked if the market could help provide Christmas meals for homebound seniors in the St. Paul’s Quadrant. We were able to make that happen, and from then on Ms. Cook became an invaluable mentor and friend.
So please forgive me when I say that this issue is personal for me.
This awful pandemic has brought an immediacy, an urgency to the plight of food insecurity in ways that former studies and agency reviews never could. And yes, neighborhoods such as Tidewater Gardens, Young Terrace and Calvert Square are especially vulnerable to both COVID-19 and food insecurity. We are certainly grateful for the work of food banks and charitable pantries, but they can only do so much. Food banks are simply not a sustainable, long term solution.
I know that the term “social justice” gets bandied about a lot these days, but please indulge me when I say that “food” is all about social justice. Ms. Cook knew it. And she would gently remind anyone who would listen that helping to find healthy food sources for everyone in the community is what we are called to do. All of us have an obligation to extend a helping hand to our neighbors.
City agencies and elected leaders cannot solve this conundrum of food insecurity alone. They can certainly help channel funding, and they can use their bully pulpits to urge and encourage citizens and organizations to help. But food insecurity and the disparity of healthy food sources remain a complex challenge that can only be resolved with the commitment, coordination and compassion of city government, faith-based organizations, non-profit groups (especially health-related organization), civic leagues, the business community, academia with the will and dedicated individuals such as you, dear reader.
We need sustainable answers and good direction. The good news is there are some very viable answers. Please know there are organizations in your community that are stepping up amidst the challenges to find answers.
FEAST (Food Education, Access, Support Together) Virginia, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to the health, well-being and holistic transformation of low-income residents. Fundamental to the health, well-being and this holistic transformation of the community and its residents is food and sources where residents can access healthy, affordable food.
In order to provide virtual programs during this pandemic in these communities we would need iPads and the internet, so we pivot.
FEAST Virginia is launching in the first quarter of 2021 a “Take It & Make It Kit” program that provides healthy food kits along with food education through Norfolk Public Schools. These kits contain healthy food ingredients for four adults and simple cooking recipes. In addition, there are plans to soon roll out an educational effort in the St. Paul’s Quadrant to teach easy preparation and cooking techniques of healthy food in a 12-week FEAST Virginia health and wellness program that is free to neighborhood participants.
There is hope. But the time is now!
Go to feastva.org to see how you can help with any of our programs and plans to bring an end to hunger and inequity in the St. Paul’s food desert.
Do it for Ms. Cook.