Food Bank of Eastern Michigan: Nourishing the Community
One in six people in the U.S. has struggled with hunger. That could be you, your neighbor, or your kid’s college roommate.
Food insecurity leads to hunger. But what exactly does food insecurity mean and who exactly struggles with it? The answer may surprise you.
Food insecurity is not having a steady supply of nourishing food. This can happen for a variety of reasons. Here are just a few of them:
- An elderly person who worked their entire life may not get enough food because of a lack of transportation, disability or choosing medication over food purchases.
- College students sometimes have to make the difficult choice between buying food or books
- A temporary change of circumstances for a family, such as a loss of job, death in the family or relocation.
- Some veterans may have a difficult time gaining employment because of a disability or post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Natural disasters such as flooding, tornadoes and hurricanes cause temporary and long-term hardships.
Fortunately, there are resources within most communities to help. We recently spend time with the president of the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan, which provides food to agencies in 22 counties around the Flint area, in our Love What’s Real recipe video series.
Registered dietitian and chef Jenn Fillenworth cooked with and talked to Kara Ross, President and CEO about the great work the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan does. There are more than 194,000 food insecure people, including 52,000 children, in the region the food bank serves. The food bank serves over 28 million pounds of food a year in its counties, including 941,000 pounds of dairy foods.
Watch the video below.