Hannah Randall, CEO of MANNA FoodBank, (second from the left) at the Newsmakers Forum organized by Carolina Public Press on Oct. 2 at the Community Table in Sylva. Photo by Carolina Public Press.
“Food security is an invisible injustice that is so much more pervasive than we realize… There are literally people that are living in chicken coops in Western North Carolina, that are eating dog food in Western North Carolina, that their only refrigeration is a cooler that’s sitting in a creek. I don’t say that abstractly; I know that because I know their faces and I know their names,” said Hannah Randall, CEO of MANNA FoodBank, at the Newsmakers Forum on Oct. 2.
Randall and five other panelists participated in a community dialogue on hunger and food insecurity in Western North Carolina at The Community Table, a nonprofit organization that provides food for those in need. The event was organized by Carolina Public Press, a nonprofit, investigative journalism organization.
Of the 16 counties Manna FoodBank operates within in Western North Carolina, 1 in 4 children are unsure where their next meal will come from, according to an article from the Manna FoodBank website.
In Jackson County, about 60% of children in public schools were eligible for free or reduced lunches in 2018, said panelist Tamara Cox Baker, Project and Communications Director for No Kid Hungry.
Panelists discussed topics such as who is most affected by food insecurity in Jackson County and other limitations beyond lack of food, such as the unavailability of transit. They also spoke of the interconnection between food insecurity and health. All shared statistics, anecdotes, or personal stories on these topics and eventually opened the floor to questions from the audience.
Panelist Carrie McBane, Western NC Region Community Organizer of Down Home North Carolina, who used the services of places such as The Community Table in the past, said “I am a type 2 diabetic and not having secure income meant I also had to pick and choose what foods I could and couldn’t eat… I wanted to eat healthier. I understood that was what was going to help me get healthy, but when you don’t have the means and tools necessary, you do what you have to.”
The Community Table was represented by panelist Paige Christie, Executive Director. During the forum, she said it can be difficult to reach out to people in need and let them know that Community Table is there for them, including students of Western Carolina University. Christie said some of the main issues with connecting students to Community Table’s services are the stigmas surrounding food insecurity and lack of transportation.
Taking turns, each panelist answered questions, bringing new and varying perspectives on the subject of food insecurity in Western North Carolina.
