There are many goals of a liberal arts education. In broad strokes, the hope is to shape and create students who become critical, independent thinkers devoted to the education and service of others. To that end, many classes explore the plight and history of many people and provide the catalyst for real life experiences in community service. Understanding, for example, that hunger and food insecurity exist everywhere begins in the classroom. But the conversation doesn’t end there. In fact, it arguably begins in real life and there are many ways to get involved with the cause in your local community.
Delving into this topic, I was astounded to learn that 10 percent of households in New York experience a form of food insecurity. So far, I have done volunteer work for two New York based organizations: City Harvest and Citymeals on Wheels. City Harvest has the important mission of salvaging food that would normally go to waste and delivering it to New Yorkers experiencing hunger. Since City Harvest’s inception, can you imagine this organization has rescued over 1 billion pounds of food? City Harvest also advocates for educating the public about nutrition and disaster response. While these are social services that are essential, City Harvest also brings food insecurity into the light and teaches the need for compassion and work in the service of other community members in need.
Citymeals is another non-profit organization started by renowned restaurant critic Gael Greene in 1981. In response to older New Yorkers not receiving meal deliveries on weekends or holidays, Greene collaborated with fellow food community members and the New York City Department of Aging to change that narrative. By 1991, Citymeals had expanded to deliver 1 million meals annually and created “The Emergency Food Package” that provides the added security of stocking people’s cupboards with non-perishable foods. In 2005, Citymeals started their “Friendly Visiting Program” to combat the loneliness and isolation people can experience along with food insecurity. In 2021, Citymeals celebrated its 40th anniversary and the astounding milestone of delivering 65 million meals to aging New Yorkers.
My first experience doing meal delivery was eye-opening. It’s one thing to learn about food insecurity studying history and human behavior at school, but it’s a whole other thing to knock on someone’s door and hand them food. Some people were very reticent and others more talkative. I was reminded of the intimacy and connectivity that food and providing meals can bring to everyday life. Seeing New Yorkers and experiencing what Citymeals does firsthand taught me a level of compassion that no classroom can provide. I come from a household where cooking is paramount. I realized that is also a gift and one that I can and have a responsibility to share with others.
Another fantastic organization is the Food Bank for New York City. With the help of a growing local network, Food Bank develops hunger-relief policy and does research to inform community and government work on hunger. From their work on their Community Kitchen & Pantry to SNAP, Food Bank does direct community work to target food insecurity. The food bank reports 535 food pantries and 128 soup kitchens that provide food for New York communities. The direct outreach of this organization is impressive. The Food Bank puts food in the hands of New Yorkers left and right. One of the greatest strengths of food banks is research. They measure their impact with data, case studies, and interviews to find out the extent of positive impact on New Yorkers. The net result is a non profit that is constantly evolving and growing from a mixture of food education and community research. There are so many ways to get involved with the goal of eliminating food insecurity. Check out cityharvest.org, citymeals.org or foodbanknyc.org for more information on how to help out.
