All Our Children
What are we creating now that will be left behind for the next seven generations of our all children?
How do we do make the radical 360 course change that will give our species a chance of avoiding self-induced extinction, taking thousands of other species with us? Is it possible that a simple lack of empathy is at the root of the destruction we see all around us as what man has made falls apart? Could it be that the trend and seemingly non-stop barrage of destructive and culture-disrupting hits on us by nature are pushing us toward the quality of empathy since we can’t seem to home-grow it in ourselves? It seems only in the most extreme life-threatening circumstances do civilized human beings find their inner empathy and act on it.
Then I say to Nature, bring it on. Teach us.
Empathy. As good as prayer? Better than whining? Better than new technology? It may be the only thing that will save us from extinction is empathy. Empathy with each, no matter our race, religion, gender, or class. Who was it that said “love thy neighbor as thyself?” Isn’t this the essence of empathy.
If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in. — Rachel Carson
New Post August 12 , 2010
Providence Youth Lead Healthy Makeovers of Two Southside Markets for the Providence Healthy Corner Store Initiative
Providence, RI (August 10, 2010) –Two corner stores on the Southside of Providence will get a healthy store “makeover” this week thanks to the Providence Healthy Corner Store Initiative (PHCSI), a new initiative that unites Rhode Island farmers, corner store owners, and community residents to increase the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grain items, low-salt and low-sugar canned goods, and healthier snacks available in Providence neighborhoods. The PHCSI is a collaborative project, led by the Environmental Justice League of RI (EJLRI) with support from Farm Fresh RI, Kids First, the Rhode Island Department of Health, Providence high school students, and local farms and business owners.
For each store makeover, youth participating in EJLRI’s Community Environmental College (CEC), a summer program for Providence high school students, are teaming up with project partners and other community members to introduce new healthy items to store customers and promote the healthy options by making them more visible and accessible in high-traffic areas of the stores. These are the first two makeovers to take place as part of the PHCSI—the first on August 10th from12pm-2pm at New Battambang Market (366 Elmwood Avenue), and the second on August 14th from 11am-1pm at Mi Quisqueya Market (933 Broad Street).
“Everyone in Providence should be able to walk into a corner store in their neighborhood and find healthy options,” said Heaven Medina, a CEC youth participant who attends Central High School. “Otherwise all the food I see in my neighborhood is Domino’s, Burger King, and basically a lot of junk.”
The two stores were chosen after youth working with EJLRI staff in the Spring surveyed numerous corner store owners around the Southside to gauge interest in the project. By signing onto the project, storeowners received technical support to bring healthy options into their stores and agreed to meet project expectations including stocking certain healthy items and accepting or applying to accept federal nutrition assistance programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP (formerly called food stamps) and Women Infants and Children coupons (WIC). Over the Spring and Summer, PHCSI volunteers interviewed store owners about what barriers they face in trying to stock healthier items, and conducted customer surveys and taste tests to learn more about the shopping preferences of store customers.
“Corner stores are important economic and cultural anchors in the community,” said Amelia Rose, EJLRI’s Director. “The PHCSI wants to work side by side with storeowners to make healthy foods more available as well as strengthen these small businesses. We want to know what sorts of healthy foods people will buy, and show everyone involved—owners, vendors, and customers—that healthy products are in demand.”
The PHCSI is modeled off projects in other cities like Los Angeles, Hartford, Seattle, D.C., and Philadelphia where community groups have all had success bringing healthier food options to neighborhoods that lack grocery stores or other similar places to access high-quality, fresh food. These areas are commonly referred to as “food deserts” because of the lack of good food options that are available to the people who live there. Instead the easiest foods to find and the cheapest to buy are fast food, junk food, canned foods, and other highly-processed foods that do more harm than good in terms of health.
“The PHCSI wants to make sure that everyone in our city has equal access to the best foods for our health,” added Rose. “When certain communities either can’t find or can’t afford the freshest, healthiest foods—that means those communities suffer worse health.”
More and more research suggests that what Americans eat is making our nation extremely unhealthy. Recent studies suggest that kids who are growing up right now in the United States will have shorter life expectancies than their parents—the first time this has ever happened in American history. The Centers for Disease Control predicts that for kids born after the year 2000, 1 out of 3 will develop Type 2 Diabetes; and it’s 1 out of 2 for African-American, Hispanic, and Asian-American children.
The PHCSI was launched this May with an “Iron Chef”-style cooking competition, pitting teams of students from the three participating high schools—Feinstein, Alvarez, and the Met—against each other to compete to make the healthiest meal they could using food purchased under $10 at a nearby corner store. The winning dish was a veggie quesadilla, made with whole-wheat tortillas, black beans, corn, peppers, and a homemade salsa, prepared by Yanilka Hernandez, Genesis Mercedes, and Karissa Arias from the Met High School. The dish was served district-wide through the Providence public schools school-lunch program on June 16th and will be continued in the Fall thanks to Sodexo, which runs the lunch program in the city.
Since the launch in May, PHCSI partners and volunteers have been hard at work preparing for the makeovers by identifying new healthy items for stores to stock as well as preparing marketing and outreach materials to let store customers and community members know that healthy items are coming soon to stores in their neighborhood. At the makeovers, in addition to physically rearranging products and displays to promote the healthiest options, volunteers will also be labeling healthy food items with the PHCSI logo, making sure price tags and labels on produce are visible, and clearly labeling the healthy items families can purchase with their WIC coupons. The makeovers will also include taste tests of new healthy snack products as well as cooking demonstrations by chefs from Kids First and Johnson and Wales.
As part of the special store makeover days, numerous local businesses provided one-time donations of healthy items to sell and sample. Confreda Greenhouses & Farms donated over 100 lbs of produce to each store, including fresh corn, cabbage, green beans, summer squash, peppers and tomatoes. Farm fresh apples and peaches were donated by Hill Orchard in Johnston, and local milk was donated by Rhody Fresh Milk. Sparkling 100% juice was donated by the Switch Beverage Company as a healthy alternative to soda.
Materials and supplies for the makeovers were made possible through donations from Sodexo, United Natural Foods (UNFI), and the RI Department of Health. Healthy snack products were purchased by the PHCSI through the Urban Greens Food Coop Buying Club as an added incentive to storeowners to participate in the project. Youth at New Urban Arts and students from the Community Environmental College both volunteered to paint and design new promotional displays for the stores as well.
After the store makeovers are completed, the PHCSI will continue to provide outreach and technical support to increase the availability and sales of healthy food options in these two stores. Other plans include connecting corner storeowners with local farms to provide farm fresh produce through Farm Fresh Rhode Island’s distribution program, the Market Mobile. In the coming year, the PHCSI will continue to talk to more storeowners on the Southside and eventually in other Providence neighborhoods to enroll more stores in the initiative.
For more information, visit www.eljri.wordpress.com/our-work/healthy-corner-store-intiative
