Rochester’s moves to mitigate the impact of food insecurity.
By: Anu Scofield
Just a few zip codes and a few miles away from Nazareth University, there are people going to sleep hungry, not knowing when again they’ll feel full. With zip codes in which over 35% of residents face insufficient access to food, Rochester holds the second highest percentage of residents who are food insecure in the state.
Food deserts are areas where high-quality food is unaffordable and inaccessible due to grocery store distribution or unreliable means of transportation to them. Places like Pittsford, the home of Nazareth, have abundant resources to obtain healthy food, but Monroe County as a whole has a food insecurity rate of 12.5%, which equates to about 1 in 8 people.
The statistics provided by Foodlink, an organization focused on relieving the pressures caused to impoverished communities, are staggering. It is clear that affluent areas around suburban Rochester are not contributing to these numbers, as they are concentrated in areas where people are fighting starvation without the means to help support them.
Luckily, the Rochester community is banding together with hopes of solving this problem.
In 2023, a Rochester Food Policy Council was created to organize groups that can make an impact on food distribution - including farmers, urban gardens, small store owners, healthcare providers, schools, and more. Community representatives have been mobilized to increase equitable access to healthy foods around the city. Through government intervention, FPC’s use their direct connection within the community to propose the most beneficial policy changes.
RFCP’s action plan includes three priority areas:
Municipal plans and policies
Urban agriculture and community gardens
Youth and food
Youth related policy includes discussion of summer meal programs, Farm-to-School, and maintaining a supportive relationship with the Rochester City School District to improve meals provided to students.
Farm-to-School is a national networking hub for school districts to connect with local food sources. They encourage agricultural education and participation in the local food economy. Addressing land use laws, zoning, waste management, and permitting has hopes of opening more opportunities for local production and distribution of healthy foods.
An established community garden in Rochester is on the corner of Broadway and Meigs street. The once vacant lot was the first community garden built on New York State owned land. In the fall of 2017, Farmers 490 began as a grassroots organization addressing rampant food insecurity while fostering community development.
They now have more than 50 garden plots to rent, fruit trees and bushes, a children’s garden, and a composting system. Rochester Mutual Aid, The People’s Pantry, NYS Department of Transportation, and Southeast Area Coalition, are a few of their local alliances that keep the operation running. Partnering with other urban gardens to create a stronger web is their current goal and progress will be in greater action this coming spring.
“30% of college students face food insecurity,” says Brian McGahan, director of campus operations and advisor of Oak Tree Food Pantry.
Multiple factors put this group at risk of difficulty procuring consistent healthy meals. Related to institutional costs, many students have to choose between groceries and school payments. Taking out loans is an effective short-term solution of handling excessive tuition bills, but in the long run is an additional financial stressor, especially to students that initially could not afford living costs. Food available on campuses is often expensive and unhealthy, leading students to develop nutritionally deficient diets, surviving off stereotypical meals like instant ramen.
Food insecurity negatively impacts students uniquely. In 2023, most students work and attend school simultaneously. When a person is hungry, they cannot devote full attention to any task at hand. Poor academic performance can result from unbalanced nutrition, which impacts their grades as well as confidence related to their capabilities. Because most current students have additional responsibilities to the “traditional student,” (financial responsibility of themselves, possible dependants, off-campus jobs, living expenses, etc.) they are stretched thin, unable to healthily complete everything.
Drexel University’s Center for Hunger-Free Communities proposes solutions at four levels. Level one is “Emergency Food,” which entails food pantries and meal donation programs. The next up is “Access to Assistant Programs and Resources,” focusing on keeping people aware of their options, including financial aid and education, and on-campus food preparation facilities. Level three is “mutual aid, or community support.” This suggests implementation of community gardens, refrigerators, and affordable childcare. The fourth level is addressing systemic issues to alleviate the crushing force of poverty.
“Economic justice” can be achieved by creating affordable housing, reducing the overall cost of higher education, implementing a living wage, providing students and staff days off to vote, and changing the perspective of campus meal plans as “income line generator” and instead as serving the community to encourage healthy, successful students.
Oak Tree Food Pantry is a resource that provides for Nazareth students, faculty, and staff who struggle with access to food and hygiene products. The pantry is stocked through mostly donations procured from food drives, as well as Naz Dining contributions.
For students and staff that feel the pressures of charity stigma, Oak Tree has discrete delivery options to make everyone feel comfortable while receiving what they need. The pantry is located in Colie’s Café, in the basement of Elizabeth George Hall. Its hours vary by the day, but it is accessible most weekday afternoons. See the Naz Oak Tree website for specific hours.
I inquired if the club had considered building a community garden on campus to contribute to this initiative. McGahan said there has been discussion, but the constraints of sustained interest, as well as funding to get the project off the ground have limited concrete plans.
Beginning last semester, a program called “Swipe Out Hunger” has been implemented, providing students with ten free dining hall swipes per week.
“Swipe Out Hunger” is an initiative started by Rachel Sumekh in 2010 that is working to end hunger in people pursuing higher education. The original model was built on students donating their unused meals to others that are lacking. Here, Naz Dining donates the swipes to students that demonstrate need.
Since its inception, they have served 4.8 million meals to fuel students and set them up for success. They work towards on-campus solutions, policy and advocacy, and community building. Helping educational institutions furnish their communities with necessary assets brings the campus together to support each other.
In the spirit of promoting awareness of resources as Drexel advises, I asked a Nazareth student if they knew about the assistance provided by the school. The student said that she knew of the food pantry but had never been. She added that if she knew she qualified for the services, she would definitely take advantage of what they have to offer.
An Oak Tree Pantry food drive was recently conducted through November 20th. They were most in need of menstrual products, shampoo and conditioner, tide pods, canned goods, snack foods, and pastas. Emma Maskell, student director of the pantry, said that hygiene items are constantly in high demand because they are expensive and always running out. While food is also always running out, it is more necessary to survival than hygiene products. When people are forced to choose, they will choose food, and make sacrifices they shouldn’t have to.
Additional resources Oak Tree directs Naz community members to can be found on the website. Pittsford Food cupboard welcomes anyone with a Naz ID and is open until 1:30pm every day. Asbury’s First Dining Center serves hot breakfast, hot lunch, and dinner on Sundays at Asbury’s First United Methodist Church. They assist with job placement, housing, and health issues.
Rochester and its suburbs have begun to foster a supportive environment that rejects the statistics. While the supportive environment simply isn’t enough, it is a good start to evaluating and dismantling the elements of poverty across New York State.
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