by Rasheedah Mateen
Virginia First Lady, Dorothy McAuliffe made a special trip to the area Friday, Oct. 14 to join local, state, and federal officials at the YMCA Express at Gainsboro on Orange Ave. NW. Local media sources were thick as the YMCA unveiled its new community initiative partnering with existing corner stores in an effort to eradicating Roanoke food deserts.
“Quite simply, food deserts are a problem in Roanoke Valley,” said YMCA Vice President, Jackie Grant. Through partnerships with city farms, co-ops and local gardeners the YMCA will begin developing the Healthy Corner Store Initiative HCSI.
Representative Sam Rasoul, state delegate, 11th District Va House spoke about his families first business in the area being a corner store. “I grew up in corner stores and these corner stores and our corner store was full of junk food,” said Del. Rasoul. Now, having come full circle he realizes how important corner stores can be in alleviating food deserts.
Concerning that, Raoul announced the first corner store to take part in the HCSI, owned by Nedda Milke and located at the corner of 11th and Orange NW.
Another on program was Dr. Jewel Bronaugh, USDA Farm Service Agency State executive director– a President Obama appointee. Most recently she served as Dean of the College of Agriculture at Virginia State University. She defined a food desert as areas populated by people who lack access to fresh, affordable and nutritious food.
Dr. Bronaugh explained that this track of focus has about 5,600 people, 800 of which are a mile or more away from where they can get healthy food. Approximately 300 or more are children and less than 100 are seniors over 65. The data shared was collected from the USDA Food Access Research Atlas which offers an exact picture of the localities and status of food deserts. Dr. Bronaugh used her final remarks to ask all to pull together so as to ensure the success of the initiative.
“From 2009 to 2015 we’ve had a 620% increase in the opportunities for folks to buy healthy food through their SNAP benefits,” said Lillian Salerno USDA Rural Development Deputy Undersecretary. Salerno further explained what USDARD is doing to address food deserts in Virginia and Nationwide. The organization also launched a food and security nutrition incentive program focused on providing supplemental Nutrition Benefits at farmers markets. Providing easy access to healthy food will have a long-lasting affect long after it is addressed.
“No one should go without the availability of fresh and healthy food,” said McAuliffe who thanked the YMCA for their commitment to addressing food insecurity and hunger in the Roanoke Valley. Over 42,000 meals this year alone have been served through the summer “Feed and Read” program as well as the after school supper program. Investing in food access is critical to bridging the nutritional divide.
Another phase of the YMCA’s project is to convert a school bus into a refrigerated food truck that will take fresh produce to underprivileged communities.
The name for the Healthy Corner Store Initiative is going to be “Y-25,” based on the census track number “25” and the YMCA Express that is leading the initiative.
For more information on the YMCA, visit www.ymcaroanoke.org
