Oliver Crawford: Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee

Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee

Oliver Crawford

For many Americans, their most significant worries are something as small as what to wear to work or what to pick up from the store. However, the reality is much scarier for 13.7% of the country. For these individuals, finding their next meal clouds over any other items in their daily routine. Not knowing where your next meal may come from can be a frightening proposition and one that many deals with daily. When a household does not have enough food to provide for every resident, this is known as food insecurity. Thankfully, numerous foundations and organizations fighting hunger are poised to help as many people as possible. Through organizations and foundations, methods to reduce food waste, and the kindness of neighbors, the battle against hunger continues to gain pace and strength.

In 2019, the number of food-insecure people surpassed 35 million in the United States, including 11 million children (Feeding America). Tennessee is no exception to the staggering numbers regarding hunger. Within Tennessee, 1 in 8 people faces food insecurity, increasing to 1 in 6 for children (Hunger in Tennessee). When putting that number into context, the results are astonishing. Breaking the numbers down further, Tennessee’s percentage of food-insecure families is 15.1%, up from the national average of 13.7%. This number translates to over 400,000 households and 1,016,420 million people (Cabera). 19% of children in Tennessee live in food-insecure households. These numbers are daunting and represent a section of the community that needs aid as soon as possible. While the numbers are large, there are still ways to help. Families are struggling all across the country and depend on government programs as well as food banks for meals every day.

In many households across Nashville and America, finding food for one person is hard enough, but providing for a family is an intimidating task. Food-insecure children consume most of their meals at school, where lunch and breakfast are provided. This dependence on school-provided meals can become dangerous during the weekends and other school-related breaks. During the COVID-19 pandemic, children with food insecurity had few places to turn to for their next meal. For some, online school meant no meals throughout the week. With the pandemic, many organizations that fight against hunger were left understaffed or closed, exhausting further opportunities for families to acquire meals. At the peak of the pandemic, in late 2020, only 15% of children from low-income families who qualified for free or reduced-price school meals were receiving them (Rodriguez). More than 30 million children rely on school-provided food or government programs to stay fed (Rodriguez). The process for picking up food over summer breaks was introduced earlier, in March of 2020, to help children obtain school meals. However, due to staffing shortages and other COVID-related issues, the number of meals being picked up reduced dramatically. In some places, like Fulton County, GA, the number of meals bring collected by families went from 60,000 a day to 70,000 a week (Rodriguez). Once parents returned to work and children remained away from school, it was challenging for families to clear time to pick up food from their children’s schools. This severe reduction in access to food posed a threat to countless families across America, and new methods of distribution were created. Bus drivers began delivering meals directly to families from schools when children were still in virtual learning.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, racial disparities deepened regarding access to food. 21% of African American individuals live in a food-insecure environment compared to the 11% of white Americans (Feeding America). However, the largest group living in food-insecure environments is Native Americans; 23% of Native Americans are living in food-insecure environments. While anyone can be challenged by hunger, specific demographics tend to be unfairly treated when it comes to access to fresh, obtainable food. These disparities have further increased throughout the pandemic, especially when taking factors like healthcare and job opportunities into account. Within Nashville, these racial disparities continue to exist and are driven by the presence of food deserts. According to Vanderbilt professor David Schlunt, there are four food deserts in Nashville (Hineman). What constitutes a food desert are low-quality food stores, lack of transportation, and high poverty levels. These food deserts have staggering demographics; 85% of residents within these areas are African American (Hineman). These food deserts are playing a large role in affecting 17% of Nashville residents who are food-insecure (Hineman). Some residents, such as Nella Pearl Frierson, have taken this issue into their own hands and started community gardens. Frierson lives in Brooklyn Heights, and her community garden provides the residents with more food options since there is only one available grocery store for miles (Hineman). Organizations such as Feeding America promote change towards racial disparities in access to food. Recently, Feeding America started a fund to help communities disproportionately affected by hunger. By raising both money and awareness for these communities, Feeding America shows that everyone deserves access to the best food, no matter their background. By overcoming these racial disparities, the number of people facing hunger in the United States can decrease, and food deserts within cities like Nashville can disappear.

Within Nashville’s community, organizations such as Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee are also helping to address food deserts more directly. Food banks can sort through and save large quantities of food that would otherwise be discarded by collecting unused food from grocery stores and distributors. Food drives, donations, and volunteer work help provide the resources necessary for Second Harvest to continue its fight against hunger. Feeding America plays one of the most extensive roles in collecting resources for families and individuals in need on a larger scale. In 2021, Feeding America provided 6.6 million meals to people in need across the country, a new record. Most of Feeding America’s networks are volunteers or farmers, all playing a role in providing more food for more people. These groups devote their time and resources to helping strangers who need it. In their 2021 report, Feeding America estimates that 60 million people turned to food banks and other services amid the COVID-19 pandemic. To some, the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to the incredible progress these organizations were making. However, the pandemic also opened new methods of delivering food to those in need and further proved the persistence of humanity’s desire to help each other.

Furthermore, the 2021 report states that Feeding America received over 2 billion pounds of food donated from retail stores. These food rescue programs can also help food-insecure children in schools. At food banks such as Second Harvest, employees can train teachers to look for signs that a child might be facing hunger. Once a child is noted as potentially food insecure, teachers can place bags within their backpacks containing snacks and drinks for the children to bring home. These bags are made by volunteers and distributed across school systems. Methods like these are creative in providing food for children and families in need while preventing said children from feeling embarrassed to reach out for help.

What are some more methods the community can utilize to tackle the fight against hunger? One of the most prominent solutions is reducing food waste. In 2019, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report stating that humanity discards almost one-third of all food produced (Stone). Within the U.S. alone, the USDA’s Economic Research Service estimates the amount of wasted food to be nearly 133 billion pounds and an estimated value of $161.6 billion (EPA). By 2030, the EPA has set a goal of cutting these numbers in half. While a big task, it is not impossible, and some methods of reducing food waste have already been put into action.

While waste reduction has started with donations to food banks, the donations come mainly from retail stores, and not 100% of the saveable food is rescued. Training staff members to look for signs of saveable food can help retail stores cut back on food waste. Bins, containers, and other storage units could also be established in stores for employees to place expired goods that are not perishable. Grocery stores end up removing most food on their shelves that does not look desirable to the consumer, including damaged packaging or whether or not it is out of sight. More times than not, these items are perfectly consumable and end up in America’s landfills.

Along with increased staff training, meals kits can also help to cut back on food waste. Most wasted food comes from grocery stores, specifically wasted ingredients for meals. For many, it may be hard to correctly determine the correct amount of ingredients to purchase for a meal. Companies like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh have introduced meal plans with perfectly proportioned ingredients, assuring that no food will be left out of the meal. These meal plans provide delicious alternatives to traditional recipes while cutting down on excess ingredients that are not necessary.

Outside of packaged goods, and wasteful habits, Americans lose much of their perishables in transportation. Keeping farm-grown plants, dairy, livestock, and poultry products viable, requires a network of refrigerated trucks and containers (Stone). However, this method is costly, harmful to the environment, and not practical for third-world nations. Alternative modes of perishable transportation include evaporative coolers, which are currently in development at MIT (Stone). Other options, such as solar-powered refrigerators, are helping to reduce pollution while increasing shelf life. With more methods to transport perishable food, more food will make it to more people’s tables, not just in the U.S. but across the world. Reducing food waste to zero is unlikely, but forward-thinking concepts have begun to hypothesize what can be done with the remainder. By utilizing anaerobic digestion, food waste can be turned into an environmentally friendly fuel (Stone). Within the industry, the U.K. company Biogen is a leader in the process of anaerobic digestion and is making significant strides to repurpose food waste as fuel. This concept of repurposing waste helps climate change as well. Fossil fuels have been a continuous contaminant of the environment, and resorting to a much cleaner alternative would be a massive addition to reducing food waste.

Starting food drives, donating to local food banks, and convincing others to reduce food waste are all great ways to help fight hunger. When COVID-19 interrupted the daily lives of everyone, the pandemic impacted some people more deeply than others. Children dependent on school lunches could not eat, and parents had no way of providing food without work. Since the pandemic began, strides have been made to increase opportunities for families to collect food, even when schools are closed. The efforts of school districts, bus drivers, and parents have made all the difference in delivering meals to children in need. The more people who are informed about the struggles of their neighbors, the more likely they are to lend a hand and tackle food insecurity. Compassion and teamwork are the greatest weapons humanity has against hunger. Working together and paying attention to food habits at home can provide meals to countless families and individuals who are food insecure. Within the Nashville and Tennessee communities, the fight is far from over. Food deserts plague several areas of the city with poor access to fresh produce and consumables. These food deserts are an example of some of the racial disparities still prevalent in both Nashville and today’s society. Within homes, several simple yet effective changes in habits can make a huge impact. Food waste is one of the most significant contributors to hunger, and meal kits are a great way to address this issue. Brands like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh are doing a great job at providing the same greattasting meals with little to no food waste. This is just one of many ways individuals can join the fight against hunger without significant time or financial contributions. No matter how fortunate you may be, simple changes in habit can make a massive difference in the fight to end hunger.

WORKS CITED 2021 Annual Report, Feeding America, https://www.feedingamerica.org/sites/default/ files/2022-01/FA_2021AnnReport_FULL_012522.pdf. Cabera, Ashley. “Reducing Wasted Food in Tennessee.” BioCycle, 10 Aug. 2017, https://www. biocycle.net/reducing-wasted-food-tennessee/. Hineman, Brinley. “Who Eats and Who Doesn’t? Advocates Address Food Deserts, Security in Nashville.” The Tennessean, Nashville Tennessean, 13 Nov. 2020, https://www.tennessean. com/story/news/2020/11/13/nashville-food-deserts/6273383002/. “Hunger & Poverty in America.” Food Research & Action Center, 8 Dec. 2021, https://frac.org/ hunger-poverty-america. “Hunger in Tennessee.” Feeding America, https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/ tennessee#:~:text=In%20Tennessee%2C%20905%2C090%20people%20are,of%20 them%20237%2C100%20are%20children.&text=1%20in%206%20children%20 face,to%20meet%20their%20food%20needs. The Impact of the Coronavirus on Food Insecurity in 2020 & 2021, Feeding America, Mar. 2021, https://www.feedingamerica.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/National%20 Projections%20Brief_3.9.2021_0.pdf. Rodriguez, Leah. “Children Who Rely on School Meals Are Going Hungry in the US.” Global Citizen, https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/school-meals-covid-19-hunger/. Stone, Maddie. “Here’s How We Solve the Planet’s Food Waste Problem.” Grist, 21 Aug. 2019, https://grist.org/article/un-ipcc-says-we-need-to-waste-less-food-heres-how/. “United States 2030 Food Loss and Waste Reduction Goal.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/united-states-2030-foodloss-and-waste-reduction-goal. “Who We Are - No Kid Hungry Tennessee.” TENNESSEE, 12 July 2021, https://state. nokidhungry.org/tennessee/about/.

Reflection

During my time at Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, I established a closer relationship with members of my community in the battle against hunger. The fight against hunger expands to Middle Tennessee and, before my time volunteering, was a fight that I knew very little about. Some of the numbers regarding those affected by food instability baffled me, no matter how many times I heard them. Second Harvest’s primary goal is to tackle food insecurity in middle Tennessee. Second Harvest completes this by sorting through food donations from grocery stores and other retail stores, then distributing them to families and people in need. During my first visit to Second Harvest, I recognized the importance of what I was doing, but viewed some of the tasks, like making boxes, as mundane and repetitive. The more I visited Second Harvest, the less ordinary these tasks felt, and the true importance began to show. I shifted from job to job, from making boxes to inspecting and sorting food, and eventually was working in the warehouse moving pallets of turkeys, pizzas, and much more. The two main projects at Second Harvest are warm and cold food sorting. During these projects, volunteers will inspect and sort through pallets of unused food sent directly from grocery stores. Reclaiming grocery food is incredibly important and helps cut back on food waste. While participating in both of these projects, I encountered all sorts of food. Pallets of ice cream, baking supplies, drinks, and even beans were all given a new purpose through these projects. The more time I spent at Second Harvest, the more I became acquainted with the full-time volunteers and began to form friendships. The employees at Second Harvest, like Christie and Mary, were some of the kindest people I have met and were incredibly passionate about what they do. These people pushed me further, and I felt driven to help as many members of the community as possible. I put this newfound energy into becoming more proficient at my assigned tasks. I began arriving earlier and would enter the warehouse before the other volunteers, assisting in setting up and getting ready for the shift. Before the shifts, I would also complete additional work with some of the other regular volunteers. This level of trust that the full-time employees instilled in me was welcoming, and it showed that they respected the amount of work I was doing to help my community. Some days were more exciting at Second Harvest, depending on what events were happening. Family nights were easily the most chaotic and consisted of the most moving parts. When volunteering at Second Harvest, my perspective was changed for the better. During my time at Second Harvest, I formed an incredible sense of gratitude for the food I have every day, which drove me to help my community even more. The wonderful people who spend every day selflessly working for others inspired me beyond belief. Second Harvest is primarily operated by volunteers and, without their support, could not assist the community. These factors all led me to pursue more opportunities at the food bank as well. At first, I would arrive for a shift once a week, and before I knew it, I was attending three shifts a week and going in on Saturdays. I am very grateful to have worked with such amazing people for a great cause and will continue to volunteer at Second Harvest after my service scholar project.