9You + open arms =changeWhen I think about the role food plays inmy own life — and it’s a big one — I haveto believe that when people don’t haveaccess to healthy, nutritious, good tastingfood, the result isn’t just poor physical wellbeing.It’s emotional/social/psychologicalwell-being. More simply, if peoplestruggle to get enough food or the rightfood, how can they possibly be happy?— David Plante, SNAP ChallengeParticipant and Committee VolunteerADVOCACYIn 2011, we put some words to a way of thinking thathad been with us since our founder, Bill Rowe, took thevery first step in creating what would eventually becomeOpen Arms by delivering a home-cooked meal to afriend with HIV/AIDS. As a team, our board and staffsaid we’d put food justice at the center of our missionto nourish and define it as “the right food, in the rightamount, for everyone, for healthy living.” It made sensefor the work we do each day, bringing healthy, deliciousfood to people with life-threatening illnesses, and for thebroader goal of our vision of abundance.Volunteers at Open Farms harvesting beans for our clients’ meals.Here are some of the ways you helped us support foodjustice in our neighborhood and global community last year.We launched a free summer meals program at the EastPhillips Park Cultural & Community Center, located justfour blocks from us. With the support of the MinnesotaDepartment of Education, we were able to deliver mealsto an average of 65 kids a day who rely on free lunchprograms during the school year. Our goal was to gobeyond the standard sandwich and chips, and give themhot meals that were healthy and delicious. In doing so,
In January, Senator Al Franken made lemon bars alongside our volunteers.we exposed the kids to good nutrition at aformative time with the <strong>hope</strong> that it wouldhelp them learn to make good decisionsabout food and grow up to live healthierlives.In 2011, we also hosted a movie night inhonor of the first ever National Food Day,an American Dietetic Association eventadvocating for healthy food and food systems.As one of many organizations holdingevents around the Twin Cities, we were verypleased when about 40 people, most ofwhom we’d never met, showed up to watch“Food Stamped,” a humorous documentaryabout a couple attempting to eat a healthydiet on a food stamp budget. The follow-upconversations were lively and inspiring.That event coincided with the kick-off ofour SNAP Challenge. Once again, weinvited folks to join us as we ate on $30.25for the week before Thanksgiving — that’sthe average weekly allotment of a personrelying on SNAP, our national food stampprogram. About 36 people, including staff,volunteers and board members, took up theSNAP Challenge. Throughout the week, weall chronicled our challenges and insightson the Open Arms blog. Our only goal hadbeen to raise awareness of the 583,000Minnesotans who do not know where theirnext meal is coming from; when readership ofthe blog doubled, we considered the SNAPChallenge a success.In our international program, we forged anew partnership with the Social JusticeCoalition (SJC), a group in Khayelitsha,South Africa, that campaigns for clean, safesanitation and water facilities. Supportingthe SJC seemed like a natural extensionof our mission — after all, clean water isas critical to health as nutritious food, andall the more so for those living with HIV/AIDS. With your help, SJC grew to 2,000members, increasing its ability to engagecommunity leaders, create a movement,and build the energy needed to bringchange.If there was a theme running through allof these activities, it was that access togood, nutritious food and clean water isfundamental to health, but also to dignityand a sense of well-being. In that way, allof the work we do together is about foodjustice — not only these initiatives, but everymeal we cook and deliver. And the successof each of them represents a step towardsthe change we all want to see — a world ofabundance, where no one goes hungry.I love that we were able to giveorganic, local food to our clientsin 2011. The growth of the farmover the past year means thatwe’re walking the walk here atOpen Arms. And we don’t justlimit it to our core program —we use great food for summermeals, Meals on Wheels,everything.— Gwen Hill, Registered Dietitian
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