Dinners and Dialogue is a four-part series during which community leaders, grocers, residents, farmers and philanthropists discuss ways to address food insecurity in Louisville.
Dinners and Dialogue is a four-part series during which community leaders, grocers, residents, farmers and philanthropists are invited to brainstorm ways to address food insecurity in Louisville.
It is sponsored by the Louisville Urban League, the Jewish Community Center, the American Heart Association and Passport Health.
The first dinner took place last week and WFPL asked participants what ideas they had or heard during the initial meeting that might be effective in tackling the issue.
Here are some of the responses:
Jackie Keating, chief development officer at Dare to Care Food Bank
“I think we should ask people what do you need? Why do you need it? When do you need it? And how can we deliver it to you in a way that meets your needs?”
Theresa Reno-Weber, president and CEO of Metro United Way
“With the advent of delivery services, whether it’s Plated or Blue Apron or these other things, and now with local grocery stores trying to develop those same types of packaged meals, how do we maybe not worry about locating food resources but bringing food resources to those individuals in need?”
Brandy Kelly Pryor, assistant professor at the University of Louisville and director of Center for Health Equity for Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness
“Transportation, particularly in this community, we are finding that most people who are ‘transportation poor’ or don’t have transportation on their own is about 35.8 percent of those who are also food insecure. An idea I heard is about the food trucks going into the communities and then those food trucks doing things on the trucks, such as either taking veggie prescriptions, teaching people how to cook in their community or providing really amazing meals on the spot for people.”
Sara Wagner, CEO and president of the Jewish Community of Louisville
“If that means putting farms in every part of our community, or urban gardens and bringing food from other parts of the state, then we need to figure out a way to put it on the mobile vans and get it there and keep it there.”
Lyndon Pryor, director for health education and policy at the Louisville Urban League
“I think I’d look at it from an equity lens. How do we subsidize food and think of it truly as a right.”
Source: Over Dinner, Louisville Leaders Talk Solutions To Food Insecurity
