COMMUNITY FOOD INITIATIVES
Food Insecurity is simply the inability to secure food for oneself and their family without sacrificing the ability to make a house payment, buy medicine, or any other purchase that is crucial to survival. The recession in the American economy, the loss of industrial vocations and crippling blows to the housing industry have augmented the presence of food insecurity in regions of dense poverty like southeast Ohio; regions that often do not have the infrastructure to combat the issue. Although a county historically embedded in the ideals of agricultural growth, Athens County is dotted with the presence of fast-food chains, corporate food vendors, and areas dependent on chain-grocers that have replaced local markets. While many may question what they should eat for their next meal out of a variety of choices, hundreds of families in Athens County do not get such a privilege. Low-quality, highly processed is their only choice due to time constraints from working lower income jobs at longer hours, a lack of access to fresh products, and the absence of nutritional education.
This documentary piece is the vision of a solution, one that targets the mindset and the habits of youth affected by the struggle to live healthy lives through their diet. Molly Jo Stanley serves as the representative of a community wide effort to instill within the children of Athens County, a passion for a sustainable lifestyle centered around the food of the region.
Surrounded by an educational system bearing individuals inspired by the ideal of healthy and self-sustained life, the men of women involved in the following organizations believe in one common task. By educating the youth on nutrition, mentoring them inside and out of the classroom, and providing them with the techniques to grow their own food, the Community Food Initiative, in coalition with the Edible Schoolyard Program, hopes to develop a culture of sustainability, health, and economic progress.
Through the various programs that are offered in gardening, composting, and preservation, they work to increase the access to healthy food within the community. Entering the after school Community Gardens program of Trimble High School, and the 2nd grade classroom of Jamie Welsh, one can witness the desire of the people of Athens county to empower their tightly-knit communities, and how change is sparked through not only the heart and mind, but by feeding one’s body with the necessary sustenance to encourage the health of a broader society.
