My group met with Caroline Walker, a former teacher of ours who taught us about food insecurity in 5th grade. We asked her about how food insecurity affects children’s ability to learn. She told us that children have a lot of anxiety about when their next meal will be. She also said that it impacts the child’s life to wonder when they will eat. She also talked about how many children rely on school meals food to be fed. We also asked about how food desserts result in unhealthy eating outcomes. She told us that many parts of town don’t have access to a grocery store with fresh veggies or produce and that many places where people shop are delis that only sell very expensive fruits and vegetables so it is cheaper to buy unhealthy food.

Another question we asked her was: Why do you think food prices have changed drastically and why is packaged food becoming the alternative? Her response was that:
– Big business have taken over the food industry
– Hard for small farms and businesses to stay alive
– Hard to make a profit.
We also asked which neighborhoods are most affected by food insecurity. And she said that neighborhoods in the Bronx are highly affected by food insecurity.

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My group met with Laura Sewell, the Executive Director at EVCC (The East Village Community Coalition), to talk about her organization’s work on food insecurity. Right from the beginning we talked about EVCCs work on food insecurity. One of the things she told us about was the community fridge that she maintained for many years. She said that they had to move the fridge because people complained about fights or noise due to the fridge but it still exists just not as close to the area. Another thing we talked about were the causes of food insecurity in the East Village. One of the things she highlighted was covid´s effects on people in the area. She talked about how many people became food insecure without even knowing that they were at risk of becoming food insecure.

Another thing we talked about was food waste in the area, especially considering restaurants. Laura told us about how many restaurants do not want to waste food and how local restaurants are actually some of the best resources for community feeding. She also talked about the amount of food that bakeries waste because they have to cook in batches and cannot always predict the amount of food that will not be sold by the end of the day. She also mentioned how originally when she was giving out food she tried to keep it healthy but in the end, realized how special it is for people to get a treat. She also said that people are never too young to start trying to make a difference.

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Me and one other member of my group volunteered with Food not Bombs, an organization made entirely by mutual aid that has existed since the 1970s. We volunteered in Bedford Stuyvesant with a group of people who volunteer weekly. Some of them cook food and others get day-old food from different stores around the city. Many of the people who volunteered took home food with them. This is a form of mutual aid, a system where people help others but they also help themselves. They might be feeding other people but eating at the same time. Food not bombs has existed for over 50 years and has helped many people. One of them being my dad Alex Vitale, in the 1990s he volunteered with food not bombs by cooking and rescuing food but he also did not have a lot of money and so he ate the food as well

When I got to the place that I volunteered at, there was already a line forming of locals who come every week. They would ask for a ticket that would signify the place that they would stand in line and wait for us to set up. You could sometimes see the shame on peoples faces when they asked for food. It was heartbreaking for me to understand how hard it is to ask for help, and the amount of bravery it takes to ask for help. This is why mutual aid is so great because many of the people helping are suffering from the same things and won’t look down on you for needing help.

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My group met with BJ Neal the Director of NYC Program Services at City Relief. We asked him about the work that City Relief does to combat food insecurity. He told us that City Relief has two main things that they do, one being directly offering food, an immediate solution but not a long term solution. He compared this to grabbing buckets to stop the flood. Another one being City Relief uses their connections to connect people with services (employment, shelter, food), and also navigates people with assistants and connects people with where they need to go to really help. BJ says when helping people with food insecurity you have to meet them where they are. He also explained that it takes a long time for people to turn their lives around and that you have to “actually just get in the trenches and join people where they are”. We asked BJ Neal about different reasons for people not being able to turn their lives around and the main reason he gave us was mental health. He talked about how people are not alway prepared to accept help and their pride gets in the way.

In this interview BJ also talked about his personal experience with homelessness, as a child he lived in shelters with his mom and two sisters. He said that that influenced his choice to work with City Relief.

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