• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_2012-06-15_Vol78_No05_06

June 15th, 2012 WESTERN CAROLINIAN Page 6 FEAT UR GS Food shortages cause concern at food banks Lex Menz, Co-Editor-in-Chief Imagine not knowing where your next meal will come from. You may live ina civilized town or go to West- ern Carolina University, but with school bills and housing you cannot afford to purchase . a healthy, well-balanced meal . three times a day. For Jackson County, this is true for a number of citizens every day. _ According to MANNA FoodBank, who _ provides food to non-profit agencies in 16 western North Caro- lina counties, 15.8 percent of Jackson Countys population falls under the food insecurity rate. That is 6,180 people who go hungry, and many of those are children. Due to the economic and job crises, MANNA Food- Bank and The Community Table in Sylva have seen a rise in numbers of how many _ people need food. _ Alison Hixson, director of communications and market- ' _ing at MANNA, said that last year 25,196 pounds of food were given to The Communi- - ' nutrition assistance. ty Table, which is a 9 percent increase compared to the year. previous. Throughout Jack-. son County, Hixson said there was a 15 percent increase age of 173 kids each school from the previous year of dis- . tributed food. Amy Grimes, executive director of The Community Table, agreed that nurnbers have risen. Last year, The Community Table served ~ 16,741 meals and provided 2,008 food boxes. = We are certainly busier, - - especially in the wake of higher fuel and food costs, said Grimes. We continue to see new facs each week, folks needing help with the most basic need, nutritious food, so that they can also af- ford other necessities of med- ical care, rent, utilities, etc. Many folks have transporta- tion issues, too. Especially in our rural area this can be a big problem. While some say that Jack- son County is undergoing _ a food shortage, Grimes re-' marked that is not the case but said it falls on other problems. Technically, there is no shortage of food in our coun- ty, or anywhere in the world, said Grimes. The problem . is distribution and lack of resources. The economic cri- sis has sharpened the divide tes Alexander | Lex Menz, Co-Editor-in-Chief Some people are lucky in that they are clearly and force- fully steered into the right ca- reer choice for them. - One such person is Dr. Al- exander Macaulay, a profes- sor in the history department at Western Carolina Univer- sity. His destiny was clearly to become a teacher but never a lawyer. Tt was brutal, Macaulay said of the LSAT. It was so bad I quit in the middle of it. At that point, I decided I wasnt going to be a lawyer. Instead, Macaulays inter- - ests continued to push him toward a career of a historical " nature. Born in Columbia, S.C. in 1972, Macaulay grew up in a small South Carolina town called Walhalla. Growing up, he said that he had no clue what I wanted to do. He took his cues from the major programs he was deciding be- tween. Fate nudged at Macau- lay in his decision-making. Because he did not want to write a large paper at the end of his studies, he chose to In 2009, our numbers be- gan to increase dramatically, and they only continue to rise, Grimes continued. We doubled the amount: of food time. That was only possible with community support, for instance Wal-Mart began do- Mating excess items to The Community Table. Without - their weekly donations, we simply could not keep up with the need that is out there. Grimes added that usually The Community Table sees a slower flow of people during the summer. However, last summer that did not occur for the first time, and Grimes and the staff believe it will not happen again this summer. Children are the ones who suffer the most as they cannot get the nutrition they need for healthy physical and mental development. The child food insecurity is 26.2 percent, ac- cording to the 2012 Map the Meal Gap. That an estimated 1,780 children who are food inse- cure, said Hixson. Also, not. all children who are food in- secure are eligible for federal MANNA. helps hungry children in Jackson County by providing a pack. We: also serve an aver- week in Jackson County via our MANNA pack program, said Hixson, where we pack up a nutritious five-pound bag ~ of food and give it to quali-. fied, low-income children on Fridays to help make sure - they have something to: eat - over the weekend. us Os hiutents: are also Soins the pangs of hunger as they are weighed down by increasing _tuition and living costs. Leigh Puttus, chief of programs and agency rela- tions at MANNA, said that universities like Oregon State and University of Arkansas Fayettville along with others have established pantries on _ their campuses to meet the needs of hungry students who cannot afford healthy choices at grocery stores or restau- rants. This hunger causes fa- tigue, headaches and the in- ability to concentrate during Classes, - Obviously, students : are under a lot of stress with their . tuition and financial aid and just their general economic status while in school, and it appears there is a growing Macaulay, study history, the same major as his father. After graduating from The Citadel with his bachelors, Macaulay tried the LSAT to get into law school. During the third section of the test, Macaulay struggled. While - working on question number five out of 25, the instruc- tor called that only five min- utes remained for test tak- _ing. Macaulay Christmas treed the, rest of the answers and walked out with another friend, who later became a lawyer in Florida. T do not regret that at all, laughed Macaulay. If any- thing, I regret trying to take it in the first place. Once again, fate had won; and Macaulay decided to take the Graduate Record Exami- nations, or GRE. T did better on the GRE and got into a masters pro- gram, said Macaulay. ' He studied history at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Afterwards, he re- ceived his doctorate frorn the University of Georgia. When I got to Tennes- se, Macaulay said, some- ~ continued Puttus. food security issue with them as well, said Puttus. - MANNA and its 231: part- her agencies like The Com- ~ munity Table are working we provided in one years together to lower the food in- ~. security rate as much as pos- sible. ~. One of the efforts that we are engaging in right now is trying to help our partner agencies expand their pro- grams, said Puttus. Were helping them build infrastruc- ture ... and expanding their facilities and hours of opera- tion. Many of them are lim- ited in the services they can provide, which translates into peoples needs not being met, but theyre doing all they can. With more ,community sup- port, we can come closer to closing that gap. We have a strategic plan that we have just refreshed, With in- terventions designed to bring in-more food, more resources .. and increase the awareness about the issue, communities will respond when they un-, derstand the need. Also, a new MANNA partner opened four months ago in Cashiers. The woman thats run- ning it is an organic garden- er, said Puttus. She comes to the position with an. ex- treme interest in nutrition and quality food supply. To lower the rate and to try to feed parts of Jackson County, The Community Ta- ble provides more than dinner at their facility. We also provide food boxes for home use to help _ me folks get by when were not - Open, said Grimes. We'd love to be able to be open seven days a week, but its simply not in our budget at this time. Also, we fave cee renovating our soon-to-be new home next to Sylva pool for over a year, contin- ued Grimes. We have long needed a permanent home and more space, but the great expense of extensive reno- vations has left our budget strained. Grimes added that the best part of her job working as ex- ecutive director is the family atmosphere. Being able to help some- one isnt even just about food, she said. Its about providing a sense of commu- nity in a welcoming environ- ment. Often what people need a is just a kind le ee: eUlQ FOOD INSECURITY & FOOD COST IN THE US roline mag \\ FOOD INSECURITY RATE JACKS Oty FOOD INSECURITY RATE INCOME BANDS WITHIN FOOD INSECURE POPULATION orate T $2.51 % i a 8G ofament eebae ae INCOME BANDS WITHIN FOOD INSECURE POPULATION 15.8% Sou umber af food insecure people: 6,180 Hana: rt over cre off Ud Sis, ut Fotig Aner Mop to Mel Gap sty shows fooks ciiferent fom one counly to the next in addition i proekling the prevalence of tp et Go ons he sarasota igh kr a oma YY S202 date about the sonata fond insecueity baronies buyndonesl pte ond sieteries aes aBoessary ahont bungor at he focal level, Map tive Meat Gap can hop polcymatrs nd sence por ey sags bel ach hae nea of sans caeole st feodhngpementca.org/maptiagin for more iiormaticn APE! coin Png Anon Aga eer and someone to confide in. . Puttus, who has workd. at MANNA FoodBank for : 20 years, agreed that work-~ ing for such a cause is as life changing for the employees as it is for the people who come for food. You can see a familys stresses reduced by a bag of groceries, you realize we all eat every day, but when youre not sure how youre going to feed your children supper, it helps you realize indeed that this is a signifi- cant way for the community to respond, said Puttus. It is a crisis. Puttus and Hixson both stressed that the Farm Bill and Food Stamp bills are currently being looked at and are facing severe budget cuts. The Farm Bill allows better access to healthier food that is affordable as well as stable food prices, accord- ing to website Food & Water Watch. The bill also helps farmers in providing a fair marketplace and a positive environment impact, the website added. Should the bills funding be cut, there will be serious consequences for farmers and consumers of, alli income brackets. The" general public doesnt understand that the nutritional safety net pro- grams fall under the Farm Bill, said Puttus. It kind of gets buried in there with all the agricultural support programs, which are all im- _ portant, but the safety net programs regarding food for - families, children and se- niors also lives in the Farm Bill. For the future, there is a hunger study currently in the works that will have results published in 2014. MANNA FoodBank will recruit, vol- unteers in the fall who can conduct interviews next spring for the study. John Whitmire and Chris Cooper, both WCU professors, are involved in the project. MANNA FoodBank en- courages Jackson County community members and Western Carolina Univer- sity students to seek out help if they need assistance with getting enough food. According to their website, there are 11 partners in Jackson County willing and able to help those in need, including The Community Table, SOAR in Balsam and Life Challenge of WNC in Cullowhee. You can also call MANNA at 828-299- 3663 for advice on how to apply for food stamps and more helpful information, MANNA FoodBank and its partners are all non profit and rely on donations and volunteers to continue serv- ing western North Carolina. They are open. from 8-4, Monday thru Saturday and are located in Asheville. Please call the above num- ber for how you can help by donating food or volunteer- ing at their facilities. The Community Table also needs donations and volunteers. Please call 828- 586-6782 for more informa- tion on how to get involved in your community and give back. Your contribu- tions and assistance lower the food insecurity gap and help hungry neighbors get the type of nutrition they deserve. RUSSIA Ging cae Cran GRAS is Sasa rs SAO eS eS ag ic Ha a UC rs a le i a ame aca ya uta aA Sad es A A Sons yt ch Slaikiy siae AEN # Wise on eek eA ARON Hibernia Hy Rate ONE a history professor yet to teach by fate one said you cant beat the job Where they pay you to read books. From there, moved into the idea that I wanted to teach and practice teaching, writing and reading at the college evel. By the time he got his doc- torate, Macaulay was a family man with a wife and two kids. He needed.a job, and quickly. A position at Georgia College had opened due to a faculty members leave of absence, and the history de- partment head, Dr. Caldwell, asked one of Macaulays pro- fessors whether he knew any- one who would be interested. The professor suggested Ma- caulay, and he jumped at the chance to apply. Macaulay got the job because, accord- ing to Dr. Caldwell, he was the first to call about it. He was offered a position teach- ing three European history classes for a year. European history was not Macaulays. strong suit. In fact, his area of study was spe- cifically 20th Century United States. However, Macaulay -agreed to the job. and prom- Macaulay ised he knew about Euro- pean history. The experience moved Macaulay out of his comfort zone, and he learned alongside the students. By the time my 1-2 p.m. class rolled around, I had my stuff down pat, he chuckled. In 2004, Macaulay searched for another job once the former Georgia College faculty member returned from his leave of absence. He learned that Western Carolina University had an opening and applied. WCU offered him the job, and he made a home for himself in Sylva, a town that reminds him of his hometown. While Macaulay teaches at Western Carolina, his wife teaches at Fairview Elemen- tary school where three of his four children attend. In 2009, he published his novel Marching in Step: Mascu- linity, Citizenship, and The Citadel in Post World War II America, The nonfiction piece focuses on his under- graduate alma mater The Cit- adel and its ideas of being a good citizen. Those ideas are then compared to broader American notions of citizen- ship. T learned a lot about the school that I didnt know about, said Macaulay. Currently, Macaulay is the graduate director of history, but starting in July, he will become the interim depart- FILE PHOTO Dr. Alexander Macaulay teaching earlier this year. ment head. Its something new ev-. ery day, Macaulay said about teaching. Its not al- ways something good ... but something new. Once you get to the classroom, you never know which way its going to go. i C)

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University's student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 2012-06-15
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22.50" x 11.5"
  • Pages: 12
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
  • Western Carolina University -- Periodicals
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_2012-06-15_Vol78_No05
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library