From Karin Page:

Sandy Vivian and I attended the Healthy Communities Wyandotte “Food Matters Forum” this week. The forum was organized by Danielle Landrum of HCW and held to answer the questions, “How can we help get more produce into the community?” and “What does the community need to use this produce?”.

Thirty food pantries from Wyandotte County attended, along with representatives from the Giving Grove, Harvesters, Kansas City Community Gardens, K-State Research and Extension and Healthy Communities Wyandotte. We resolved to work together going forward, to share resources, and continue the discussion on a quarterly basis. Danielle and I are forming a List Serve of all the agencies to use as a means of communicating, so that we can share information, ask for help, notify each other of excess food, etc.

A few take-aways from the meeting were:

  • Wyandotte County ranks 40th (last place) of all the counties in Kansas in health outcomes. 27% of children in Wyandotte County are food insecure – the national average is 14%. Harvesters serves 13,200 different people monthly in WyCo, but there are many more pantries that are not in the Harvesters network serving residents there.
  • There is a huge barrier to the clients using the food because they don’t know what it to do with it. They’re not familiar with it in its raw, unprocessed state, or they need recipes.
  • 58% of the pantries report an increase in the number of people using pantries. 11.6% turned away clients due to running out of food.

At After the Harvest, we’re resolved to help get more fresh produce to feed the people of Wyandotte County. We have several farms in the area and there are three farmers’ markets that can provide food at the end of their market day. Harvesters and KS Extension have recipes and education programs to help train clients and pantry staff on the preparation of fresh produce.

Please consider helping once a week at a pantry in WyCo or gleaning with us, so that locally grown fresh produce does not go to waste, but feeds hungry people instead.