National Food Insecurity

As you already know, food is a major fascination of mine. But an even more important part of my life is my dedication to service. I've spent a majority of my adult life involved in various volunteer leadership positions, service groups and projects dealing with issues such as HIV/AIDS, childhood education, cancer prevention and research, and poverty. And in recent years the intersection of these two passions - service and food - has become a working to end local food insecurity.

Oftentimes when we think of hunger and starving, undernourished children we think of foreign developing countries, not our own backyards. However, in Western North Carolina poverty, and especially hunger, are major issues. It is estimated that one in four children suffer from hunger and Asheville was recently named the 9th Hungriest City in the US.

There are many organizations working to alleviate these issues but they are under increasing stress from limited budgets and exponential need; and oftentimes they depend upon community donations to stay open. And this is why I am so excited about the work of my colleagues and the students at our institution.

This is the 2nd year we have hosted a food drive for MANNA Foodbank's MANNAPacks program. The MANNAPacks program packages bags of food for local K-12 students who receive free or reduced lunch and are at risk to go hungry over the weekends. They're given the bags on Friday afternoons which contain enough goodies and meal options - like instant oatmeal, rice, canned meat, powdered milk and peanut butter - to last them until Monday morning.

This year we were able to raise over 1,400 items for MANNA!

And at this year's employee holiday dinner we also collected hundreds of items for food assistance agencies in service area.

It's unfortunate, but true - food insecurity is everywhere in our country and we have to address it. But thankfully, there are food assistance organizations almost everywhere too - but they desperately need our support. Government funding is down, community giving is based upon the economic strength of the people and with more people in need of food that donation pool is smaller too.

Please seek out your local food pantries and soup kitchens to find a way to get involved - you can give of your pantry, your pocket or your time. Also, there are national organizations working to end hunger, especially in children. Share Our Strength is one of the front runners in alleviating childhood hunger nationally. Please consider making a donation or hosting your own fundraisers to feed families!