Hey ya’ll!
We are Ben and Laura, your FYSOP24 Hunger coordinators, and we are thrilled to be working for you this summer. We will share our progress with you as our issue area takes shape but we already have a lot in store for you. Hunger is an issue close to our hearts and we can’t wait to share this passion with you as we welcome you to Boston University this August.
Peace, love, nomz.
Benjamin Suehler and Laura Kakalecz
Hey FYSOPers,
There are seven days until FYSOP! The staff arrive for training in only two days and we can’t wait to get the ball rolling! We’re both amazed at how quickly the summer flew by and we can’t wait to meet all of you!
Any who, if you haven’t notice yet, the theme for the Hunger issue area this year is the Hunger Games. Kinda easy and a little cheesy, we know, but we couldn’t pass it up. All summer we’ve been typing things up in Hunger Games font and photoshopping our faces onto characters bodies… but the problem was we had never seen the movie. So I manned up on Saturday, went down to Newbury street, and picked up a copy of the Hunger Games. I gotta say, I was more impressed with the film then I thought I would be. There was so much suspense! Colin might have cried a couple of times, but wouldn’t admit to it. Maybe I’ll read the book (if I ever have time).
Now that we’ve finally seen the movie, we’re excited for our own Hunger Games, FYSOP 23 Style. It’s time for us to get our hands dirty. It’s time to plant some sustainable crops. It’s time for us to feed the hungry. It’s time for us to learn and grow more. It’s time for us to ride the pony. It’s time for FYSOP!
Hey FYSOPers!
So as you know, this summer Colin and I have been doing a lot of reading about the food industry in America (see The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Eating Animals). Yesterday, I decided to learn more about the food industry on the big screen. Food, Inc., a 2008 film by Robert Kenner, takes the stories and issues from Food Nation, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and Eating Animals and brings them to life. Part of the problem with the food industry is that no one actually sees what’s going on behind the scenes, so Food, Inc. aims to lift the curtain. The film covers a range of topics from the American dependence on genetically modified corn to the mistreatment of migrant workers in slaughterhouses. Almost every topic the film makers touch on has been something that Colin and I have been researching this summer and something that we’re trying to pass on to the FYSOP volunteers.
I was personally amazed at how well this documentary was done. I didn’t feel like the goal was to sicken people with grotesque images, but rather to provide hard-hitting facts that would make the viewer truly think about what they’re putting in their bodies.The movie ends with the optimistic point that we, the consumers, have the power to change the food industry. Every time we choose to buy healthier and sustainable food, we are voting to make these options the more affordable norm. Some people think that choosing to buy more sustainable won’t be enough, because how can one person change an entire system? But think about the tobacco industry over the past 20 years, a prime example of a large system with a lot of financial stability that was taken down by the choices of consumers.I think this film and FYSOP will help restore your faith in the choices of people. People are capable of doing anything… they just need to put the work in.
I highly suggest checking out the film’s trailer (posted below) or watching it online if you have a Netflix account!
Stay hungry for change,
This week we wanted to write about another great site that we will be sending volunteers to. The Greater Boston Food Bank is the largest food relief organization in New England and their goal is to end hunger in Eastern Massachusetts. They use the help of over 14,000 volunteers (that includes you guys!) annually to help distribute food to over 545,000 people in Mass. Check out the video link above to learn some more mind-blowing facts about the Greater Boston Food Bank. Colin and I really like this video because it shows just how far the service we’ll be doing at FYSOP goes. Even if you don’t see the end result, it’s important to remember that even the small things that we do to help means that somebody can eat tonight.
And oh yea…. ONE MONTH UNTIL FYSOP!
As of this past April, the Mayor of Boston, Thomas M. Menino, has begun a fantastic program to help educate the citizens of Boston on nutrition and living a healthy lifestyle. Boston Moves For Health is an ambitious new campaign to improve the health and fitness of the city’s residents. It’s goal is to loose 1 million pounds as well as moving 10 million miles this year. In a letter addressed to the residents of the city, the Mayor had this to say about the program.
“Working together, we can reach our goal – a million pounds lost and a healthier Boston. By joining this free wellness portal, you will be able to set personal health goals, map walks and runs, find new workouts, get nutrition tips, track your progress, and team up with friends to coordinate group activities and support each other along the way… “
Colin and I LOVE this program for two reason:
1) It addresses healthy food attainability in what are called “food deserts.” A food desert is any industrialized area where fresh and healthy food is hard to obtain. Food deserts can pop up anywhere, but primarily appear in low-income urban centers with high minority populations. In most cases, there just aren’t any super markets our groceries stores willing to set up shop in these areas. Boston, just like any other urban center, has its fair share of food desserts. In these areas, residents do not have the resources to obtain fresh food, and as a result may turn to more unhealthy options for food. For example, kids living in a food desert may choose to purchase a bag chips and soda rather than an apple that’s been sitting on the shelves for far too long. By providing nutritional education and resources to these under served areas, Boston can help lower obesity rates and become an over-all healthier community.
2) This is FYSOP fusion at its finest! Not only is the city of Boston addressing nutritional education, but they are also addressing public health awareness. Aside from the food aspect, Boston Moves also provides fitness opportunities almost every day of the week. Whether its joining your neighborhood walking group or hopping on one of the Hubway rental bikes located all across the city, Bostonians have the tools they need to get up, get out, and get into shape!
You can check out the Boston Moves for Health website here: https://boston.fivi.com/
And while you’re here, check out this video of Mayor Menino talking about Boston Moves last week!
Stay hungry for change,
Jay and Colin
In continuation of our self-education of the hunger issue area and promotion of literacy, we are proud to present you with part two of our summer reading series.
After finishing The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, we decided to read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. In Eating Animals, Foer tackles various food-related topics including the cultural meaning of food, factory farming, commercial fishing, and humane agricultural methods. In the books introduction, Foer describes spending the majority of his life as an occasional vegetarian (some years vegetarian, some years omnivore). Even though for years he considered himself to be some-what of a vegetarian, Foer writes that he never truly considered the morality of his eating until the birth of his son.
Foer’s journey of self-discovery is entertaining as well as enlightening. In addition to interesting and innovative prose, Foer jams Eating Animals with a variety of interesting data including the fact that Americans choose to eat less than 0.25% of the known edible foods on the planet. Anyway, we just wanted to give you some food for though t(get it?… food… hunger… we like puns). Well until next time, keep nomming and as always follow @BUCSC on twitter or look out for the really cool #nomknowledge hashtag.
Fylove,
Colin and Jay
We’re excited to be having Joan Salge Blake from Boston University’s Sargent College come speak for FYSOP’s Education Day once again this year! Joan is a well known dietician, author, and lecturer who also happens to be a professor at B.U. Check out more information on Joan at her website, http://people.bu.edu/salge/, and check out this video on BBQ food safety. Who knows, you might use some of these tips for your 4th of July celebrations this week.
With 11 awesome Issue Areas, we coordinators can get so caught-up with the specifics of our particular issue area that we forget how much all of our issue areas are related and overlap with one another. That is why as group, the coordinators of FYSOP 23 have decided to place an extra emphasis on FYSOP Fusion. FYSOP Fusion is the concept that all of the issue areas FYSOP focuses on are connected and that in order to solve problems afflicting our society, we must look at the problem through a variety of lenses.
One way we plan to emphasize FYSOP Fusion is through what we like to call “fusion sites,” which sites that will be visited by groups from different issues areas. On Friday, we along with the Public Health Awareness coordinators, Colin Mooney and Ernesto Botello, visited a fusion site called Gaining Ground.
Gaining Ground is a completely 17 acre organic farm in Concord, MA (for any literature buffs out there the farm is located on the Henry David Thoreau Birthplace Property). Since the farm’s founding in 1994, it has donated one hundred percent of its produce to local food pantries and hunger relief agencies. Site contact Kayleigh Boyle is extremely excited to have Hunger and PHA FYSOPers come visit in August.
That’s it for now, but be sure to check out the pictures and continue to nom away!
FYlove,
Colin and Jay
Walking up to Gaining Ground
Colin and Jay with PHA coordinators Colin Mooney and Ernesto Botello
Bath Planters
While the rest of the BU community was sleeping-in or eating pancakes this past Saturday morning, we were busying working the fields of the Food Project: Beverly. The Food Project is a non-profit organization that engages youth in personal and social change through sustainable agriculture. Each year hundreds of teens and thousands of volunteers(*cough*cough* FYSOPers), help farm the organization’s 40 acres of farms. Food from their farms are distributed through their Community Supported Agriculture programs, Farmers’ Markets, and hunger relief organizations. During the week of FYSOP, volunteers will be working on the Beverly and Boston Farms.
At the Food Project: Beverly, we got down and dirty as we performed various tasks around the farm including weeding onions, netting green beans, and picking swiss chard. As our site contact Ben said, all of these activites helped to “make happy plants.” It was really cool to see where our food comes from as well as all the hard work that goes into fresh produce.
Some fresh summer squash! NOM!
The Food Project: Beverly’s “wood chip” experiment
Colin and Jay with site contact Ben and their new friends from Newburyport
Looking good Jay!
We hope you guys are excited as we are!
Fylove,
Colin and Jay
Hey Fysopers!
Today we were lucky enough to drive out to Gloucester, MA (pronounced Glaw-ster), which is about an hour drive north of Boston. We visited one of our confirmed sites, the Open Door Food Pantry, just to see what awesome service they’ll have for our hunger volunteers.
First, we met up with our awesome site contact Lisa. She took us on a tour of the facilities and showed us everything that our volunteers will help with. There were organic vegetable gardens growing everywhere (we even got to sample fresh snap peas) and their own compost bin. Once we made our way inside, we got to take a peak at their huge food pantry as well as their dining hall where they serve meals to the community. In August when FYSOP gets there, our volunteers will be helping out by caring for the gardens, organizing food and unloading deliveries in the food pantry, and providing lunch for kids between the ages of 1-18.
If you’re interested in reading up more on Open Door Food Pantry, you can check out their website: http://www.foodpantry.org/. Also, if you want to get connected with them on Facebook, they have a page that can be found at the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/TheOpenDoorMA
Check out more cool photos from our visit below! And, as always, may the noms be ever in your favor.
Nom love,
Jay and Colin
Open Door’s very own garden
Open Door Food Pantry in Beautiful Gloucester, MA
