‘Food Insecurity Initiative’ Aims To Tackle Hunger, Food Waste Throughout Northeast Mississippi

TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – A public-private partnership is being launched to address a problem known as “Food Insecurity.”

Eric Handler shares the story of “Waste Not OC” whenever he can.  He is the public health officer in Orange County California, and also co-founded the public -private coalition to eliminate hunger and reduce food waste.

“We have restaurants and grocery stores, donate food, we identify people that are in need and we refer them to food pantry map we have on our website to the nearest pantry where they can get the food,” Handler said.

Handler , along with the executive director of “Waste Not OC” told their story to participants, or “stakeholders” at the “Food Insecurity Initiative” meeting.   It was an opportunity for people from healthcare, education, food pantries, soup kitchens and other groups to hear how the problem was tackled in one California county and how the same strategies can be implemented for Northeast Mississippi, with everyone working together.

“If we put our egos aside and work for the better good, we are going to be able to end food insecurity in the state of Mississippi,” said Martha Allen, of “Extra Table.”

Participants brainstormed and came up with ideas to tackle “Food Insecurity,” or the lack of access to healthy food that impacts 23 percent of Mississippi residents.

“Occasionally now we get calls from different restaurants and or catering companies, they call say we have product to donate, can we make that donation, but there’s not a lot of that now because fear of liability, so we have to work with educating the community about how we do food recovery,” said Josh Martin, executive director of the Tupelo-Lee County Hunger Coalition.

Participants at the “Food Insecurity Initiative” understand there are a lot of hurdles to overcome in the fight to end hunger, but they believe an intentional, strategic effort will redirect unused, healthy food to those who need it most.

The “Food Insecurity Initiative” is a project of “Families First For Mississippi.”

familiesfirstforms.org

extratable.org

unitedwaynems.org/tupelo-lee-county-hunger-coalition

wastenotoc.org