COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) — Local leaders and organizations are finding creative solutions to make food accessible in the Chattahoochee Valley, where more than half of the residents of Columbus live in a food desert.
A food desert is defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as densely populated low-income areas that do not have easy access to grocery stores or supermarkets. People who live in food deserts have higher risks of health problems, as many turn to processed, high-calorie foods in place of fresh foods.
To combat food deserts, people in Columbus are making plans to get mobile food markets to new areas of the city, expanding mobile food pantries and teaching people how to cook with simple ingredients.
In Muscogee County, 111,790 people lived in a food desert, according to the 2019 Community Health Needs Assessment from Piedmont Columbus Regional. As the most recent report released, it helps officials identify top health priorities through 2022.
“(Some residents) don’t have anything within, approximately, a couple miles from their home to get to a source of food,” said Feeding the Valley director Frank Sheppard.
Dozens of nonprofits across Columbus collaborate to tackle food insecurity, but the issue is complicated, said The Food Mill director Olivia Amos. The Food Mill is a nonprofit that uses fresh produce to prepare healthy meals that it delivers to help combat food insecurity in the North Highlands community.
“There’s not really just one area that you can approach, have a program and think that it’s going to change things over the long term,” she said. “You really have to address all of the different layers of food insecurity. And access is a big piece of that.”
Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson announced a new fleet of mobile vehicles purchased by the city, offering pop-up health clinics, farmer’s markets and recreation activities to underserved neighborhoods in the city.
A health and wellness initiative announced Jan. 21, Henderson said the program could begin as early as late March. Neighborhoods served by the program could include Wilson Apartments, the E.J. Knight Apartments, Warren Williams Homes and Nicholson Terrace.
“What we want to do is just go out there and drop some barricades on the street and set up shop,” Henderson said.
‘CRAWL THEIR WAY BACK’
About 21% of residents in Muscogee County reported food insecurity and 12% felt they had limited access to healthy food, according to the 2019 Community Health Assessment by the West Central Health District. Statewide rates were 16% and 9% respectively.
Food insecurity worsened when the COVID-19 pandemic began, according Sheppard. In late 2020, the food bank saw a 53% increase in demand for services, he said, and about 40% of people coming for food were individuals the food bank had never helped before.
“People that were laid off or furloughed long enough in a difficult economy were having trouble finding other work and feeding their families,” Sheppard said.
Demand on Feeding the Valley has leveled out at 35% above what it was before the pandemic, he said. In response, they’ve expanded programs like their mobile food pantry sites, increasing the number of distribution sites from 48 to 53.
“Some of those sites normally give out food distributions once a month are now doing it twice a month or once a week,” he said.
The food bank works with Enrichment Services and Columbus State University to identify densely populated areas of people who are food insecure to make sure the food is going to high-need areas.
J Mack Muhammad is a disabled veteran who regularly receives food from a pantry supported by Feeding the Valley in Harris County. The site at Moultrie Park has helped his community a lot during economic downturns, Muhammad said.
He has five kids who live with him who he has to provide for, and his disability prevents him from working.
“We can’t go to the grocery store because we don’t have the income,” Muhammad said. “And coronavirus makes it even more difficult. That help these pantries give people and society is a blessing.”
Putting grocery stores in these areas is not the easy fix, Amos said. Many of the families who live in food deserts are on fixed incomes, she said, and most are receiving supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) benefits.
The pandemic made existing food deserts denser, director of the Community Reinvestment Department Robert Scott said, as many people who were affected by the job loss struggled to get back on their feet.
“It’s usually when you have significant periods of losses of income that push people back,” he said. “Some people fall off the edge and some people just barely hang on with the strength of their fingernails.”
‘MORE DIABETES AND MORE OBESITY’
There’s a correlation between living in an area with high food insecurity and high rates of obesity, says Sheppard. “They’re going to get a hold of some food, but it’s probably not going to be the food that’s very healthy for them.”
Columbus has a higher rate of diabetes, stroke, heart disease and cancer than other metropolitan areas, also announced during the press conference.
Dr. Steven Leichter and Phil Shuler will co-chair the mayor’s commission on health, and have been working on the initiative for two years.
Ischemic heart and vascular disease is the most common cause of death for people over the age of 35 years old in Muscogee County, according to data by the Georgia Department of Public Health.
Avoiding high fat foods in a food desert is difficult because people in those areas do not have access to healthy food, Shuler said. They have access to gas stations or convenience stores where they can get chips and junk food, he said, but not healthier foods that would provide a better diet.
“That’s where you have more diabetes and more obesity,” Shuler said. “Particularly with those same areas also having a higher rate of sedentary lifestyle.”
‘I HADN’T SEEN THAT SIDE OF IT’
Lack of transportation is another barrier to ensuring people have access to healthy food, Sheppard said. Some individuals in food deserts won’t have the financial resources to have a cab or ride-share service take them to a store, he said.
“They won’t necessarily have an operating motor vehicle,” Sheppard said. “And there’s the issue of public transportation. There might not be a solid bus line that goes from where they live to a source of food.”
Kim Hill, a volunteer for Focus Ministries, was one of the first people in the line at the food pantry in Harris County. She helps pick up food from the pantry to deliver to six homebound individuals.
“They’re stuck at home,” Hill said. “They can’t get anywhere, and they’re not near food.”
Many of the people she helps are physically incapable of going to get food and often don’t have a constant support system, Hill said. The work she does with Focus ensures they’re consistently getting the food she delivers.
Once people have fresh food, it is important they know how to use it, Amos and Shuler said. One of the goals for the mobile food market is to also teach people how to cook the food with simple recipes, Shuler said.
Solving food insecurity means addressing every layer, Amos said, and engaging with the community to change behaviors.
“This is a process that’s going to take years to change,” Amos said. “We have to make sure that our programs that we create and what we’re offering to the community is what they’re looking for.”