Hopefully to come...
Although Food4Fuel is just starting out, a long-term plan for the organization is listed below. The ultimate goal is to foster better relationships with food in 4 different ways...
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01 Neutral and Accurate Education Regarding Nutrition
The world is filled with information and misinformation everywhere you turn. There has been an influx of inaccurate information on social media to promote diet culture and other unsafe methods. Misleading information is harmful and one post can alter the diet of someone very easily. Food4Fuel works to combat this epidemic of misinformation by posting accurate facts on social media about health, food, and diet culture. The long-term goal of Food4Fuel, concerning education, is to change the Ohio curriculum to include neutral definitions of food to avoid harmful descriptions that can alter how someone feels about food.
02 Provide resources to food insecure communities
Food Insecurity is defined as "people who don't have enough to eat and don't know where their next meal will come from." A Cleveland Clinic statistic states that "one in seven people in the Greater Cleveland Food Bank service area is food insecure." 33% of people in Cleveland rely on food stamps which limits food selection. Food4Fuel aims to promote balance in individuals' lives that makes sense for them. This will be done through videos and cooking classes that are catered to specific needs. For example, a question Food4Fuel hopes to answer is: 'If I could only shop at the Dollar Store for food, how can I make the most balanced meal possible?" Ultimately, Food4Fuel hopes to foster collaborations with The Greater Cleveland Food Bank and local soup kitchens. This will serve as a vital tool to connect with the community and reach the most amount of individuals possible.
03 Eating Disorder Prevention and Awareness
Even though I had an eating disorder, I was ignorant of the reasons people could have eating disorders. However, I was able to change my thinking through the information offered to me because of my eating disorder. However, I realized that individuals should not have to endure intensive care to have the opportunity to understand eating disorders. Food4Fuel will try to bridge this lack of education through seminars at schools. These seminars would consist of partnerships with doctors and other organizations that work with eating disorders. The hope is to have a group of professionals work to create a presentation that addresses leading issues in the eating disorder community. This presentation will then be given to a group of teen ambassadors who will undergo a short interview and training program to ensure Food 4 Fuels' mission is being upheld. These ambassadors will then work as direct lines of communication to local schools. Setting up this system ensures awareness and education are being spread throughout the community. It also allows students to hear information from peers rather than intimidating professionals. The success of these seminars would be measured through the normalization of conversations surrounding food. Spreading awareness is the first step to combatting eating disorders. Through discussion eating disorders openly, it normalizes food conversations and offers easily accessible support, ultimately reducing disordered eating habits.
04 Sustainability within Communities
Being a student at Laurel has educated me on how my actions affect the overall environment. Food4Fuel hopes to pair with nursing homes, city halls, parks, and other individuals to establish gardens. These gardens would be 100% voluntarily run and the food would either be donated to a local food bank, or sold to local grocery stores. There is plentiful research on how being outdoors is beneficial to mental health, physical health, and emotional health; not to mention that locally grown fruits reduce environmental effects caused by fruit importation. These gardens would inspire community amongst people as well as a way to develop a better relationship with food. Food grown can be given to people who struggle with food insecurity in the Food 4 Fuel community. More details to come.