Serving the Hungry - Fall 2018 Newsletter
Cameron’s Story
“Boys will be boys,” said Tabitha, the mother of Cameron who is 11 years old
and in the fourth grade. Recently diagnosed with a dual condition, Cameron takes
three different medications, attends counseling with a psychologist, and participates
in a mentoring program. It would be an understatement to say that Cameron and his
mother have a full plate.
Early last calendar year, Cameron had to be placed in a behavioral hospital for a week
because of outbursts that could have been a safety risk for himself and others around
him. A change in his medication and learning some techniques to better manage
his emotions have proven to be of some help. More recently, an effort to change
Cameron’s diet to include less processed food and more fresh produce, seems to offer
some welcome hope for what might be the most positive impact.
“At first it was quite difficult to decide what to buy at the grocery store and what to
avoid. We have become so used to purchasing frozen items and boxed meals that
moving towards fresh produce and creating meals from scratch forced me to consider
purchases more carefully,” Tabitha recently confessed, “but what a difference it seems
to be on Cameron’s attitude and behavior.”
There is sometimes a perception that eating healthy or including more
produce in your diet can increase your food costs. It doesn’t have
to. Cost-cutting measures can include starting your own garden, watching for sales,
coupon cutting, and checking in at your local food pantry where often times local
groups such as Master Gardeners or other local growers who are willing to donate to
help families in need.
A Word from the Agency Director
In early 2017, Terre Haute Catholic
Charities Foodbank was invited to
participate in launching a produce
mixing center with more than 70 other
Feeding America food banks located in
the Midwest. The mixing center, located
at Gleaners Food Bank 72 miles to our
east, provides a tremendous advantage
to bringing more nutrient-rich, fresh
produce to our service area. The results
have been outstanding with more
than 200,000 lbs. of potatoes, apples,
onions, beets, carrots, sweet potatoes
and oranges distributed for pennies on
the pound.
There is still plenty of work that
needs to be done in order for us to
make a real difference for those we
serve. “Dietary guidance consistently
recommends filling ‘half your plate’ with fruit and vegetables—including
fresh, frozen, canned, dried and 100%
juice. Still experts have long tracked a
consumption shortage,” explains Wendy
Reinhardt Kapsak, author of Increase
Fruit and Vegetable Intake for Health
and Happiness! (The full text can be
found at www.HungerandHealth.org.)
And, because an individual’s food
choices are affected by several factors
including how they were raised and
where they live, changing those food
choices can be difficult. Designing
programs that help people learn how
to make better choices is paramount to
improving the health of our citizens and
reducing health care cost.
Health care centers provide a unique
connection to people in need of better
nutritional choices. One good example
of this is the Food Prescription for
Better Health program initiated with
Purdue Extension, Wabash Valley
Health Center, United Way of the
Wabash Valley, ISU Coordinated
Program of Dietetics and Catholic
Charities. Over a 16 week period, 20
individuals with challenges that include
fixed incomes, high A1C levels, weight,
high BMI, high blood pressure or
cholesterol were invited to participate
and learn more about making better
food choices. Preparation instructions
and demonstrations were provide
for meals that take little time but offer significant health benefits. And,
participants were able to sample the
food items – dispelling the notion that
eating healthy meant giving up flavor.
Because participants lived near the
class location; attendance by this group
has been nearly 100%. Other programs
of a similar model have been very
successful in other cities.
“Distributing food to
children, seniors and families
in need is our first priority,
but we also recognize more
must be done to fully address
and bring an end to the
systemic, complex issue of
food insecurity,” stated Traci
Simmons, Feeding America, in Feeding
America is Nourishing Communities
to Make Meaningful Progress toward
Ending Hunger.
Food security by definition includes
the call for providing food that helps
promote a healthy and more active
lifestyle. Terre Haute Catholic Charities
Foodbank has a vision to provide more
produce to our communities and we ask
you to be part of that effort.
For more than 38 years the Foodbank
has worked to reduce hunger by
providing greater access to emergency
food assistance to families and
individuals in west central Indiana.
The statistics were alarming in 1980
and they remain so even today as we
have increased the amount of food we
collect, warehouse and distribute by a
factor of 20!
For more information on the programs
we offer, please call us or visit our
website.
Thank you for your interest and please
keep us and those we serve in your
prayers.
John C. Etling
Agency Director
Feeding America is Nourishing Communities to Make Meaningful Progress toward Ending Hunger
By Traci Simmons, MPH, Community Health and Nutrition Coordinator, Feeding America
By 2025, Feeding America, in collaboration with our network and our partners, is working to ensure access to enough nutritious
food for people struggling with hunger, and make meaningful progress toward ending hunger. Recognizing the intersections
between diet quality, health, food, and financial security, Feeding America’s community health and nutrition team has embarked
on a transformational journey with health care partners and the national network of food banks to improve the diet quality of
individuals experiencing food insecurity.
The Challenge
Over the past 35 years, Feeding America has grown
to be the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief
organization – currently serving more than 41 million
people who are food insecure through a network of
200 food banks. Distributing food to children, seniors,
and families in need is our first priority, but we also
recognize more must be done to fully address and bring
an end to the systemic, complex issue of food insecurity.
The challenges to achieving and maintaining food
security span beyond, but are still inclusive of, food
access. We also know that food insecurity is linked to
poor nutrition and chronic disease, and is illustrated
in the below cycle, without effective, cross-sector
interventions, individuals are progressively challenged
with adverse coping strategies, poor disease
management, increased health care expenditures,
lower employability, increased spending trade-offs, and
decreased household income. In the midst of this, toxic
stress takes its toll on one’s overall capacity to thrive.
The Opportunity
With Feeding America’s reach, expertise, and partnerships, we are positioned to influence systems and structures to increase
healthy food choices and address barriers leading to this cycle of food insecurity and chronic disease. The community health
and nutrition team is specifically focused on the two areas below and looks forward to working with partners across sectors,
such as you, to make measurable change.
Support the Feeding
America Network to make
the Healthy Choice the
Easy Choice
Between July 2018 and June 2019,
Feeding America will continue to leverage
research and provide turnkey tools to
implement, scale and evaluate nutrition
nudge interventions, nutrition policies,
and local health-centered initiatives in
collaboration with the nationwide network of
food banks. Additionally, Feeding America
is actively constructing improvements to
the Foods to Encourage (F2E) framework,
leveraging data and technology to improve
measurement, and access to nutritious
foods. Collectively, these efforts aim to help
make the healthy choice the easy choice
across multiple audiences.
Influence Health Systems
to Address Food Insecurity
and Reinforce Better
Nutrition
Health care systems (i.e., providers, payers, insurers,
etc.) are necessary to improving the diet quality of
individuals served, and they are also increasingly focused on addressing
the social determinants of health. With Feeding America’s expertise and
national and local reach, we are building national, strategic partnerships to
engage the evolving health care system and more fully support the needs
of patients – many of whom are experiencing food insecurity. Already, food
bank-health care partnerships are engaged in screening for food insecurity
and providing interventions for care, including healthy food distributions in
health care settings, healthy food delivery programs, referrals to food banks
and pantries, and SNAP (formerly food stamps) application assistance.
With the people we serve at the center of this work and collaboration
across sectors, we are hopeful to meet Feeding America’s 2025 goal
of ensuring access to enough nutritious food for people struggling with
hunger, and make meaningful progress toward ending hunger. To learn
more or join in this work, contact Feeding America.
Save the Date
Soup Bowl Benefit
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Maryland Community Church
Tickets will be available on January 2 at the Catholic Charities
office at 1801 Poplar St., Terre Haute or online at ccthin.org.
Need Help Finding Food?
If you need help finding food or know someone who does, call the National Hunger Hotline at 1-866-3-HUNGRY (1-866-348-6479). The Hunger Hotline is available Monday – Friday from 9am – 6pm. All calls are free and confidential. Help someone you know receive the nutrition they need to remain healthy and productive.
