Champaign – More than 13% of American households have challenges with access to food, according to the USDA. Food insecurity rates in Champaign County are closely with the national trend, which means that more than 26,000 residents do not have access to enough food.
Local organizations working to combat food insecurity in the East Center in Illinois met during the third “Champaign County Food Summit” on Wednesday, February 26, to explore solutions.
Rachel Mannen, a nutrition and well-being educator of Illinois Extension, explained that food insecurity can be a real challenge for people, especially families with young children.
“If you are at food inscription, your kitchen can be completely empty and you may not even know where your next meal comes from,” said Mannen.
The event was sponsored by 11 organizations, the participants present representing 71 community organizations. The one -day event included workshops, a resource fair and presentations on food insecurity and related problems.
Bobby Smith II, Associate Professor in the African-American Department of Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said that he loved the objective of the food summit is not limited to Champaign-Urbana.
“Often, conversations around food in this area are only concentrated on Champaign-Urbana,” said Smith. “But in fact, we have cities like Rantoul, we have villages like Tolono, Savoy and other places that also have food problems.”
The objective of the summit is to promote collaboration between various groups, said JR Lill, coordinator of the community health plan with Centraide of the County of Champaign and the secretary of the Board of Directors for the county of Healthy Champaign.
“The food summit was born from this idea where we all work together, but we don’t really know what we are doing,” said Lill. “Can we bring together and understand how to collaborate better?”
He explained that Centraide provides funding for groups to resolve different disparities and health problems. When the Centraide leaders realized that many groups were applying for the same type of subsidy financing, they decided that people had to bring together to explore solutions.
The first food summit was scheduled for 2020, but it was postponed until 2023 due to COVID-19. Mannen said that the pandemic has had a great impact on food insecurity and the economy, and that food insecurity remains a huge problem in the county of Champaign.
The workshops of the food summit have explored various aspects of food insecurity, including the impact on young people and senior residents. The sessions have focused on the strategies for writing fund collection proposals and organizing volunteer programs.
Lill said that a long -term objective is to fight food insecurity among the older population by creating gathering meal sites, which can provide nutrient meals to senior residents in different places.
“Have more links with our elderly people so that we do not forget our elders as they age, because in the County of Champaign, we have a lack of real housing for the elderly, then also the lack of food support for these elderly people,” said Lill.
Mannen said that one of the projects on which the Illinois Extension works is the Assistance Program for Assistance in additional nutrition in Illinois (Snap-ED), which offers students educational opportunities to find out about healthy local foods and how to cook. The program is also associated with other local community organizations to provide food access to residents through food banks and pantry.
Culture is important in the fight against food insecurity, said Associate Professor Bobby Smith II. He gave a conference on the subject, where he explained that it was important to recognize the cultural meaning of food. Smith is the author of the book “Food Power Politics: The Food Story of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement”, which explores the historical sense of food in black culture.
“Black communities have historically used food as a way to protect themselves from inequalities. [There are] Inequalities around the production, consumption and distribution of food, ”said Smith.
He said that breed, ethnicity and cultures have questions about food insecurity issues in the county of Champaign and beyond.
Mannen said the annual food summit is open to anyone interested in networking and learning information about the things that happen in the community.
“We can do more collaborative things rather than duplicating efforts and working together to get the best result, sharing, resources and things like that,” said Mannen.