Cooking For A Cause: A Case Study

During the time I spent volunteering at John C. Lincoln’s Food Bank, I was able to provide food, individual hygiene items, and infant supplies to families struggling to obtain these critical items for their families. When I first arrived at the food bank, I spent time constructing care packages with soap, toothbrushes, personal wipes, and other essential items for health care. Later in the day, I had the unique opportunity to assist with the simulated grocery store within the food bank. The structure of the store allowed individuals receiving food to feel as though they were actively participating instead of passively accepting food and feeling helpless. Overall, I was able to instill a sense of self-efficiency in individuals who were struggling to provide for their families while personally interacting and sharing my time in a meaningful way.

Specific Purpose: To inform the audience of the workings of the Houston Food Bank and the concepts discussed during the course which were demonstrated through our volunteer experience.

The “Cooking Matter” program will be responsible for three interventions to help alleviate child hunger by recruiting college student participants. (See appendix J for group work VII on intervention development). The first intervention was “Read It before You Eat It!” this intervention will demonstrate the correct way to read nutrition and food labels. Each participant will examine the actual food packaging labels of different food items such as whole wheat pasta, regular pasta, bread, cheese, and

Several studies have looked at the relationship of nutrition education on the topic of food insecurity. In one study, The Effect of Food Stamp Nutrition Education on the Food Insecurity of Low-income Women Participants, found that Food Stamp Nutrition Education (FSNE) significantly improved food insecurity and food insufficiency.7 This study looked at women 18 years of age of older who were responsible for purchasing or managing food for the household, who qualified to receive food stamps.7 The FSNE included a five-session intervention based on the social cognitive theory that was conducted by either a trained assistant, peer educator, or paraprofessional.7 The intervention sessions could be tailored to the individual’s

Considering the following statistics, it is clear why Hunger Free Colorado’s work is so important: Nearly 1 in 7 Coloradans struggled with hunger in 2013, facing times when there was not enough money to buy food for their families or themselves (Colman-Jenson, Gregory, & Singh, 2013). More than 1 in 5 Colorado households with children (22%) reported food hardship, facing financial challenges to put food on the table (Food Research and Action Center, 2013). More than 1 in 8 Coloradans lived in poverty, including 1 in 6 kids, during 2013 (Bishaw & Fontenot, 2014).

One in six people in central and southeast Indiana has food insecurity. Most of these people are children and senior citizens. Often times, people fall into the gap where they struggle to afford food, but make too much money to be put on SNAP or free and reduced lunches for children (“About Gleaners”, 2017). More than half of the people they serve all have to make choices when it comes to eating. They can either not pay for transportation, healthcare, medicine, utilities or housing, or pay for food.

This particular article is written by Patricia A. Duffy who states that low income families use the food pantry for emergence assistance for food, aside from the traditional government programs; this article suggests that food pantries are heavily used for emergency food (Duffy). The article focuses more on lower income families instead of the homeless. It compares food stamp programs along with the food pantry to understand how they both tie in to one another. There are various statistics and interviews of those who participate in such programs across the nation.

Before participating in this project I was not fully aware of how people in my area were suffering and I had no idea of the aid certain institutions provided to the people who were in need of help. Through this project I was able to see that a large number of low-income people in Decatur were suffering from a lack of access to healthy and affordable food options. Being able to go to the grocery store anytime I want and buy anything I need is a privilege that I took for granted for far too long. I now understand that there are some people in the area that have no means of transportation so they must walk or take the bus just to get something to eat. Unfortunately many of the places surrounding these low-income residents are overpriced so they residents are forced to eat unhealthy food. This is why the Inn plays such a vital role in the lives of these people. Everyone in the area has access to fresh and healthy food every single day thanks to the Inn, which for some people is probably a life saver. The Inn receives donations of food all the time from people all over the area. I have seen a few flyers and posters around campus about donating food to homeless shelters and it seems there is always someone doing a food drive. Every year Millikin has a chili bowl event where art students make bowls in the ceramics studio. People can they purchase the bowls at

Attempting to urge student involvement and the rising costs of providing meals is a constant issue with the companies which provides meals for the schools. In the meantime, the issue remains how to increase the nutritional values of the food provided and assisting the companies that provide the food to do so and to maintain a stable program and its honesty, especially in making sure that children who are not eligible do not receive these reduced cost or free meals (Ralston, Newman, Clauson, Guthrie, & Buzby, 2008, p. iii).

The city of Dallas has been facing an issue of rising food insecurity for many years now. In fact, it ranks on a national level among the places in the country facing this same issue. Many children in Dallas Independent School District go day-to-day unsure of whether they will eat. This kind lifestyle greatly affects every day activities and personal health. Schools in the DISD provide free breakfast and lunch for most of the kids that struggle with this issue, however, there is nothing the district can do during the summer months while classes are out. The Dr. Pepper-Snapple Group would like to propose a solution to tackle this issue over the summer through the “A Summer without Hunger” project. We are requesting half of the funds necessary from the Dallas Chamber of Commerce

I was the volunteer coordinator for a student service organization (SNAC) during my undergraduate work. SNAC’s goal was to improve the health of disadvantaged students through nutrition education and interventions. We provided food assistance, taught healthy cooking classes, and linked students to other assistance services as needed. I quickly recognized a relationship between nutrition, socioeconomic status, and health, which opened the door to my interests in public health. I saw the opportunity to help individuals by improving the wellness of their community.

The first intervention program this paper will review is called SNAP-Education, or SNAP-Ed. Assisting food insecure families through this program provides education on how to eat nutritiously and could decrease obesity rates among SNAP participants. SNAP-Education “supports evidence-based nutrition education and obesity prevention interventions and projects for persons eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) through complementary direct

Putting food on the table may become a difficult task putting the family at risk for hunger (Martin, 2011).

I am Kristyana and my food culture comes from the South and the Pacific Northwest. My parents and grandparents ate a lot of greens, mac and cheese, meat, seafood, and grains. We normally eat together on Sundays, holidays, and family gatherings. My grandmother and mother does most of the cooking. I learned many different techniques and recipe from my family and how to choose the right foods.

nourishing. Catering to the community is not a simple task: a menu must be planned out