Monthly Archives: June 2016

Sufficiency

“Strike Out Hunger” Combats Summertime Food Insecurity

By Aphrael Boltas

Summertime means a lot of things: warm weather, longer days, trips to the beach, vacations and lying poolside. And for many students, it means a break from school. However, for a growing number of people, the absence from school leads to something else: food insecurity.

The number of children eligible for free and reduced meals has been steadily rising. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2012, more than half of the nation’s children attending public schools were eligible for the free and reduced lunch program.

This means that during the eight weeks of summer when children are no longer going to school and receiving free breakfast and lunch, parents must determine how to fill the gap.

Untangled by Charles Smith
Untangled by Charles Smith

While there are several year- round options for families and individuals to receive food assistance, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Women, Infants, and Children program (WIC), and food banks across the country, it is important to understand how the gap is bridged during the summer.

As someone who personally received free or reduced lunch for my four years at a Trenton public high school, with three siblings ranging from ages five to 12 who were also in the Trenton school system, I was entirely unaware that summer food assistance programs existed. Had I known, this could have made a major difference when it came time for my parents to decide to devote more money to the food budget and where to take it from.

The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), a major summer assistance program funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides free meals and snacks during the summer months to children across the United States. The program includes three different sites: an open site, which operates in low income areas (areas where half of children come from families at or below 85 percent of the poverty level) and is able to provide free meals to all children. The second site, an enrolled site, provides free meals to any child enrolled in an activity at the program (at least half of children must be eligible for free or reduced lunch for the program to be eligible). Campsites, the third type of site, receive reimbursement for meals provided to children who are eligible for free or reduced lunch.

Anyone can search for a food service site in their area by using the Summer Food Rocks website, operated by the Food and Nurtition sevice (FNS). The website lists local sites and specifies their type and their times of operation.

Sunflowers In The Wind by Joann Abdelwahbe
Sunflowers In The Wind by Joann Abdelwahbe

In June, 2015 United Way of Greater Mercer County held an event called “Strike Out Hunger” where participants packaged oatmeal to distribute to food banks across New Jersey. Denise Daniels, who coordinated the event, said that “Strike Out Hunger” was a “way to bring awareness to the issue as well as supply food banks with much needed breakfast at the end of June when kids no longer have free lunch or breakfast.”

Daniels also spoke about the fact that during the summer months, in particular,  families rely on food banks. And in comparison to Thanksgiving and Christmas time, there are far fewer donations. Participants at the event made 9,000 packages of oatmeal (75,000 servings), with three different food banks receiving 3,000 packages each. When United Way followed up with these food banks, they were told that all 9,000 packages were gone within two to three weeks.

 

United Way of Greater Mercer County

“Strike Out Hunger” June 2016

Phone: (609) 896-1912

www.uwgmc.org

Poetry

“Someone Unknown”

By Ethel Mack

 

Once I lived a life as someone I didn’t know.

When in others company, it started to show

I had become another person, another in my body,

who I couldn’t ignore, I became ugly, said

things I didn’t mean, people around me,

became very bored of me.

 

So I went off to be by myself and relieve some

of this pain that was in my chest,

trying to figure out how I got in this mess.

This pain has clouded my heart

and needs something, someone to help pull the stress apart.

I need a fresh start.

 

I’m kicking, punching, screaming for someone

to hear my shout. I’m lost within myself, and I

want to be freed.

I need your help, please help me.

I realized that this person I’ve become isn’t made

of stick and stones.

I no longer want to live in here all alone.

I no longer want to live in here all alone.

Poetry

“Remade”

By Paul Norris

 

A breath I take, a sigh revealed.  

Old wounds that never healed.

 

An empty glass, that is me.

Yet shattered not, oh, destiny.

 

Once filled with hate and bitterness,

reached for more but found less.

 

Jesus called, with Him I rise up.

Once an empty glass, now an honored cup.

 

This new wine I now hold,

this honored cup remade to gold.

Poetry

“My Mind”

By Rose Browne

 

My mind is playing tricks on me.

Confused about days and nights,

wrongs from rights.

So I channel my energy to The Universe,

hoping and praying for a better outcome,

realizing that I have more choices,

I pray that the decisions I have made will not distract my focus on what

seems like my future, which I thought I had already planned.

So I turn my antenna to a different direction,

hoping to get a more transparent response.

 

My mind is playing tricks on me.

For a minute I thought I was free

to make a choice instead of making

an educated guess, so I dot all my i’s and cross all my t’s.

All this time I thought that I was focused

with a mindset of what I wanted and the means and ways

I was going to get it.

 

My mind is playing tricks on me and now it got me tripping,

trying to figure out if I’m going crazy or if it’s just my illusion.

I’ve had horrible nights

and too many restless days.

My body has lost its coordination.

My mind has taken over my lifeless body,

leaving me paralyzed.

Health

“Garden State” Capital: Lacking Accessibility To Healthy Food

By Alana Magro

Obesity means much more than simply being overweight. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) confirms that more than two in three adults are considered overweight or obese. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 12.7 million children between two and nineteen years old are obese. The NIH states that obesity in children has tripled over the past thirty years. The national average for childhood obesity (between the ages of two and five) is 21 percent. The average of childhood obesity in Trenton is 49 percent. The gravity of the issue is growing, as food deserts in communities like Trenton work to exacerbate the issue. And while food deserts put all residents at risk, they can be extremely harmful for children in particular. They play a large role in the rising rates of obesity in the United States. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) found that when compared to Camden, New Brunswick, Newark, and Vineland, Trenton consistently showed the highest obesity rates. Researchers discovered that the majority of children in this city do not comply with daily recommended serving sizes (for fruits and vegetables); instead they resort to fast food. The issue is aggravated by the limited number of existing grocery stores (in comparison to small convenience stores); this leaves very few options for healthy eating. The New Jersey Childhood Obesity Study supports this idea and explains that in areas with limited access to retail grocery stores and supermarket chains, the majority of children’s purchases are unhealthy meals and snacks from smaller stores. At these stores, the few healthy foods that are available are extremely over-priced. According to RWJF, low-income families, which make up 40 percent of Trenton’s population, lack By Alana Magro

transportation to grocery stores. The Trenton Health Team found that the city would have to triple the number of grocery stores in the city in order to properly provide its residents with nutritional food. Not only are these supermarkets out of reach, but the healthy food is simply too expensive for families in the area to purchase. And while we are beginning to understand how widespread the issue is and whom it is affecting, the gravity of the health risks it poses is much more complex. Although there is a long list of risks associated with obesity, the

following are only a few. The NIH warns the public that obesity leads to coronary heart disease (CHD), but that it also leads to heart failure. When someone has a high BMI, their chances of having a stroke increase significantly. Type 2 diabetes is another health risk connected to obesity; according to the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC), the disease is three to seven times more likely to appear in those who are obese. Living in a food desert limits accessibility to healthier foods dramatically, which in turn jeopardizes the health and well-being of children and adults.

The Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK) is one of many organizations working to combat this issue in the Trenton community. Jaime Parker, manager of programs at TASK, commented on the support and services that TASK provides its patrons, “There are folks who come here for Christmas, they come here for Thanksgiving…we try to offer wrap around services that feed the body as well as the mind and the spirit.” The issue of food deserts has only grown over the years. The main obstacle for a lot of families living in these areas is transportation. “A majority of the individuals who come to TASK do not have cars that can easily take them to shop for groceries,” said Parker. “Not having adequate transportation is a big problem.” When talking more specifically about foods that are hard to access, Parker explained: “A lot of time, cheaper food is canned. It’s high in sodium, preservatives, and it’s not as healthy as the fresh food, which usually costs more money. If you go to McDonald’s you can get fries off the dollar menu but what healthy food can you buy for a dollar?” No individual, let alone child, should have to think about where their next meal will come from, or whether it will exist at all. They should not have to spend their lives battling serious illnesses that result from an unbalanced diet. Luckily, TASK is one of the hundreds of organizations working to make sure this isn’t the case.

Trenton Area Soup Kitchen 72 Escher Street, Trenton NJ Phone: (609) 695-5456 www.trentonareasoupkitchen.org