When I helped collect fresh produce from the local farmer's market to bring to the Salvation Army, I was excited. I thought we were doing something great for the people of Newark who lack access to good, healthy food. However, a week later when I saw the same produce still sitting in a fridge at the Salvation Army, I saw that there was still a problem. Yes, you can give people food, and it can even be the right food, but unless they have the tools and the knowledge to prepare it, you aren't doing enough. The volunteers we work with at the farmer's market are well-intentioned, but they do not realize that the work they do still falls short of meeting the needs of the community.
When families show up to the food pantry, they skip right over the vegetables and head straight for the pizza donated from Pizza Hut and donuts leftover from a local bakery. This frustrated me at first because I didn't understand why they would turn down the better quality foods when it was available to them. 'I collected that swiss chard this morning!' I thought, 'and I would gladly take it home with me.' But then I realized that most of these people didn't know how to prepare swiss chard, or turnips, and, why I don't even know how to eat kohlrabi! And even if they did know how to make these foods, as the article suggests, they may lack the stove to cook it or the fridge to store it.
We recently met a man here in Newark who has a vision of how to alleviate poverty in this area. Chris Ramsey works with Sparta Cafe and Bridges Out of Poverty, and he told us that there are three philosophies of how to help people. There is the 'give a man a fish' method, or in this case, the method in which well-to-do folks feel they are helping society by donating pretentious foods like kohlrabi to the local food pantry. Then there is the 'teach a man to fish' method, in which the impoverished are taught how to prepare these foods and how to get access to them on their own. And there is the third method which most people never stop to think about: instead of giving a man a fish or teaching him how to fish, ask him if he even wants fish at all. Ask him what he needs and how you can help him. Most people who volunteer their time or resources are so busy thinking about what a good person they are for helping out, that they never stop to wonder wether they are really providing the assistance that is needed or wanted.
What we need to do then, is ask the people we encounter what they need. What kinds of foods would they like to see donated? Do they need cooking instructions? Do they need a kitchen in which to cook it? Perhaps it would be more beneficial for the Salvation Army not to hand out junk food and put the vegetables in the back, but to lend out their appliances for people to use so that they can actually eat the healthier foods.
Programs such as SNAP may be well-meaning, but they certainly haven't put a dent in the issues of poverty or healthy food access in America. Instead of telling the people what they need, government officials should simply ask them, as we are beginning to do here in Licking County at our local food pantry.
No comments:
Post a Comment