Application of Knowledge
Sarah Stortz, Nizamuddin Samsuri, Peter Reilly
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Who we are:
Sarah
- Sophomore
- Journalism & Mass Communication
- Waterloo, Iowa
- My favorite memory from our trip was bonding with my fellow team members, inside and out of service.
Sam
- Senior
- Economics
- Putrajaya, Malaysia
- My favorite memory from the Tulsa trip was working for the community as a team while knowing more about each of our own team members.
Peter
- Sophomore
- Accounting
- Cedar Rapids, Iowa
- My favorite memory from the Tulsa trip was meeting all the locals by helping to serve the community.
- Sarah, Sam, and Peter
What did we learn:
- Proper food security must include nutritional meals. However, it’s a problem for a vast amount of people because they don’t have the resources and means to obtain nutritional meals.
- Those who struggle with food insecurity tend to have meals at “food deserts.” (ex: McDonald's)
- Food deserts are communities with a low amount of choices for food, where the majority of the food within the community is nutritionally insufficient.
- Food security is a problem in which food banks and food pantries help combat food security by providing nutritional food for those in need.
- Food banks are the middle-man between the dispensers and distributors of food.
- Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma is the food bank for Tulsa.
- Food Pantries are the distributors of food to those facing food security by providing nutritional meals
- Iron Gate is one of many food pantries within Tulsa.
- Food banks are the middle-man between the dispensers and distributors of food.
Sorting food at Iron Gate
How did we learn:
- When we interacted with the visitors at Iron Gate, we saw firsthand what food insecurity looks like.
- An example includes individuals who came to the front lines 4 or 5 times
- Several of them stated it was their first meal of the day
- At the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, we observed the vast amount of food located in their warehouse.
- We saw how the food bank received rejected food from dispensers.
- Then, food pantry associates picked out the food to distribute it to different individuals.
- Some of the reallocated food had defects which the food bank deemed unsatisfactory, resulting in the food to be thrown away.
- Examples of this included if the food was opened or if food had no labels with ingredients.
We "CAN" do it! Shout out to Water Boy
Why was it important to learn:
- Food insecurity can affect anyone, regardless of their demographic.
- The topic doesn’t receive enough attention in the mainstream media, which is discouraging since a great number of people are affected everyday.
- Many people don’t realize how big of a problem food insecurity really is:
- Between 1989 and 2005, fatty foods dropped in price by 26%, while vegetables and fruit rose by 75%.
- This disparity in price makes it more beneficial for low-income people to buy fatty foods over produce causing more food insecurity.
- More than 2.4 million deaths have occurred in the U.S. every year because of heart disease. One of the main causes of heart disease is an unhealthy diet.
- In Chicago alone, more than 500,000 residents live in food deserts, with an additional 400,000 living in neighborhoods abundant with fast food restaurants, having no grocery stores nearby.
- Between 1989 and 2005, fatty foods dropped in price by 26%, while vegetables and fruit rose by 75%.
- With all of this information, it is important for us to learn about food justice because it is a huge problem associated with other socioeconomic issues.
Sorting cabbages
How do we apply our own knowledge:
Peter- Knowing the struggles individuals may face related to food insecurity, I will apply this knowledge to my future endeavors, such as my business career. Food insecurity is an uphill battle that needs to be addressed, especially in the business world, as this dilemma is routinely ignored. I will try to bring light on how individuals around the country do not get enough daily nutritional food. I can do this by working for non-profits whose main mission is eliminating food insecurity. Another example includes having team building days for a company in which the team-building takes place at a food pantry. This sort of action builds teamwork through helping the less fortunate by providing a healthy, nutritional food option.
Sam- Majoring in economics, we tend to cover a lot of human area needs. With the experience that I have learned on the trip, it is definitely beneficial to my future in a way that it helps me understand the importance of income equality among people. The food that they obtain within different social classes, where the low income people prefer unhealthy food just to survive, is just mind boggling. I hope, as an economist, I will bring nutritional equality among people, regardless of what social class that they are in. Whether rich or poor, everyone deserves the same type of healthy food as everyone else.
Sarah - As someone who wishes to have a career in the field of media, I can use my platform and skills to shed more light on food justice. In order to combat food insecurity, we must bring more education and awareness to the general public. Since the topic does not receive enough attention in the mainstream media, I hope to bring more discussion in my workplace and share more facts to readers everywhere. An important skill I learned on this trip is thoroughly listening to others who come from a different background. By accurately portraying their struggles on a media platform, we can all be more equipped to tackle the problem.
“Food Desert”, 2018 Food Empowerment Project. http://www.foodispower.org/food-deserts/
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