On Tuesday October the 8th the Center for the Environment hosted a movie and food tasting event. Bread Riot and Food for Thought put on the event.
Bread Riot is a local educational nonprofit organization here in Salisbury. Their main goal is to try and educate people on the importance of buying food from the local farmers. They also get together to help bridge the gap between farmers and local consumers by creating bonds and programs with them. Bread Riot board and former board members provided home cooked foods from local farmers for the food tasting. The food ranged from delicious beef stew to fresh apple crisp and tasty sausage and egg casserole.
Food for Thought is another local nonprofit organization with an interest in providing meal security for children. They create backpacks of shelf stable meals for children and pair with local churches to provide the food. Food for Thought also provided the movie for this occasion.
The movie shown was A Place at the Table. A Place at the Table is a documentary about the struggles of families and children in America who do not get enough food to eat on a regular basis. The filmed showed several families from several places all over the United States all with the same underlying problem of not getting a large enough income to support their dietary needs.
Everyone at the event learned lots of interesting facts from the movie and it opened the eyes of many people in attendance who may not have known that 1 in every 6 people in America claim they do not have enough to eat. Also, the movie stated that 1 out of every 2 kids in the United States will be on food assistance at some point in their lives.
After the film, the room divided into small groups for a chance to discuss some of the highlights of the movie and try to come up with solutions. Then the smaller groups gave a brief synopsis of their group’s discussion to everyone and it was a very thought-provoking exercise.
After the discussion a paper by Food for Thought was handed out about 10 ways to take action in our community to end hunger in America:
- Support Local Farmers
- Connect to those in need by calling the National Hunger Hotline at 1-866-3HUNGRY (348-6479).
- Take the “Food Stamp Challenge” and try to live on the average daily food stamp benefit of $4.20 for one week.
- Test your brainpower – once while eating and once while having not eaten to feel the difference of how hunger affects learning and other cognitive functions.
- Contact your local, state, and federal elected officials and teach them to stand up for the fight against hunger.
- Get informed about the difference between food security and healthy food security.
- “Like” Food for Though, Bread Riot, Center for the Environment and Rowan Helping Ministries on Facebook to learn about events.
- Read books about hunger and poverty in America like The American Way of Eating by Tracie McMillan.
- Spread the word to family and friends about the hunger issue in America.
And finally,
10. Donate money, time, and food to organizations who support feeding the hungry.
