What would you do if you grabbed a crooked carrot in the produce section of your local supermarket?
If you answered “put it back,” you’re not alone. In general, Americans do not buy crooked carrots, dented cans of soup, or crumpled boxes of cereal, even though the quality of the product is often unchanged by exterior damage. Instead of appearing on store shelves at HEB or Kroger, “crooked” produce winds up in landfills with almost 6 billion pounds of fruits and vegetables going unsold or unharvested each year1.
Houston is ranked the fourth worst metropolitan area in the nation for child food access, with just under twenty percent of children experiencing food insecurity1. Each year, the Houston Food Bank, together with over 600 community partners, addresses this need by delivering millions of nutritious meals to the hungry. For Brian Greene, President and CEO of the Houston Food Bank, the abundance of safe, healthy food nobody wants to buy presents an enormous opportunity. If food that would otherwise be wasted is efficiently distributed to the hungry instead, the problem of food insecurity could be eliminated.
In addition to “crooked” produce, I learned that the Houston Food Bank carries much more than its name would suggest. Across from a towering warehouse rack filled with bananas was the food bank’s “Home Depot” section, containing tools and hardware from windowpanes to light bulbs. Boxes and boxes of over the counter medication, often in slightly crushed packaging, lined the walkways. “The number one question we get asked by stores looking to donate is, ‘do you guys have space for this?’” says Greene. “The answer is always the same; we take everything.”
Healthy food access goes beyond the availability of food, I learned on the tour. Respect for the working poor who obtain food from the Houston Food Bank was evident in every detail. A Metro bus carries families to the main entrance of the facility. An army of young volunteers works to sort food items while watching a movie projected on a large screen. The pantry is organized like a grocery store, with attractive displays instead of stereotypical cardboard boxes. It is because of the respect demonstrated by Brian Greene and all the employees at Houston Food Bank that the initiative has been so successful at battling hunger by reaching out to low income families and promoting the consumption of healthy food.
Harish Eswaran is a Summer Intern at CHILDREN AT RISK. He is a rising senior studying biology and music at Duke University. Harish wanted to intern at C@R to get a better sense of the health status of children in Houston, a community he hopes to one day serve as a physician. He also wanted to obtain experience in the legislative process so that he can serve as an advocate for his future patients.
- “Map the Meal Gap: Highlights of Findings for Overall and Child Food Insecurity.” Feeding America. 2014. <https://feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/hunger-studies/map-the-meal-gap/~/media/Files/research/map-meal-gap/2014-MMG-web-2014.ashx>