Income and Vegetarianism: Is it a barrier?–Cost of being vegetarian

In 2014 7.3 million Americans consider themselves vegetarian. But just how much damage, if any done at all, does being a vegetarian do to your wallet?

According to the USDA’s Food Price Outlook, the cost of meat has increased. Products such as beef, eggs, and pork are among some of the products that have seen an increase in supermarkets nationwide.

Coincidentally, vegetarianism is also on the rise in the U.S., with about 8 million adults considered themselves followers on the lifestyle. 7 percent of that 8 million had a household earning under $50,000.

A study published last year, compared the amount of money spent by meat eaters and those following a vegetarian diet. It was found that weekly, a person following a meat based diet spent about $53.11, compared to $38.75 for those following a plant based diet. In one year alone, $746.46 was spent on a vegetarian diet.

“I found that eating meat was more expensive,” said Dawn Hewitt, a Newhallville resident. “I usually bought pork or beef.”

Nationally, out of those who ate meat, 2 percent had an income in the $50,000-75,000 range. The average United States income is about $54,000. People who had below average incomes, were much more likely to be considered vegetarian compared to those who made above average, according to the Huffington Post.

“A vegetarian diet is not as expensive as people believe,” said nutritionist, Yvette Graffie-Cooper, “It’s really what you make of it.”

Graffie-Cooper suggests coming up with meal ideas ahead of time to save time and money at the grocery store. She also said looking at the weekly circular for grocery stores will let you know what they have on sale. She also advises to buy healthy foods in bulk, and also utilizing local farmer’s markets which are also cheaper.

“Things like beans and quinoa in bulk are much cheaper than buying individually. It also has a lot more serving,” Cooper-Graffie said.

City Seed is New Haven’s local farmer’s market. It is also apart of the city’s effort to combat their reputation as a food desert.

During the winter months, the farmer’s market is located indoors at the Metropolitan Business Academy. Beginning in about May, different locations around New Haven are chosen as spots for set up.

City Seed also accepts SNAP, or food stamps.

“This makes it easier for families living in New Haven to have access to fresh food, especially those considering a vegetarian lifestyle,” Graffie-Cooper said.

As for the distance, the closest location of the farmer’s market to Newhallville is about a 30 minute walk, or 15 minute drive. Graffie-Cooper says this is another barrier.

“Not everyone has access to these markets, especially those in the heart of the food desert.”

Convenience beats health in a New Haven food desert

By Melissa Barclay

For Lezlie McEachern, a student who grew up in the Newhallville area of New Haven, healthy food was not always a priority. Newhallville is considered a “food desert,” and McEachern’s family struggled with a hectic schedule, lack of knowledge about nutritious food and transportation issues.

According to the USDA, a food desert is defined as an area that lacks healthy produce. Residents within these areas are also more than a mile and a half from a grocery store or supermarket, and lack reliable transportation.

“If you told me I lived in a food desert, I would be very confused — my family would be confused. Honestly, I would keep eating the same — it was cheap,” McEachern said.

McEachern was within walking distance to a bodega and a Chinese takeout restaurant. She frequented them in high school and sometimes when she goes home.

The word “bodega” is Spanish for corner store. They sell some items that can be found in the grocery store, such as milk and bread — but often at higher prices.  Although those items are available, it is still cheaper to buy the unhealthier options, such as prepared fast food such as a cheese steak, or fries.

“My favorite thing to get was a beef patty on a hard roll. I also loaded up with snacks for lunch and all throughout the day — I hated the school lunch,” McEachern said.

McEachern’s high school schedule started with first period at 7:55 a.m. McEachern skipped breakfast. Lunch was from the bodega a few blocks down. A beef patty on a hard roll and snacks such as Little Debbie cakes held her over for the day.

“After school, if it was cheerleading season, we would go get something to eat. It would be like pizza, Chinese, or subs. It was never anything healthy. Everything was close,” McEachern said.

Growing up, McEachern’s family attempted to be nutritious. They were aware that diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure ran in the family, and wanted to clean up their diet. But there were financial pressures, and eating healthy was more expensive.

As a result of her poor diet, McEachern’s health began to suffer. Her weight increased, and she felt sluggish. She admitted that a lack of education on what she ate contributed.

“I was really aware of how much my weight changed. I felt sluggish and tired all the time. I didn’t realize it was because of my diet until now,” she said.

At the time, McEachern’s family only had one car. It was mainly used by her father, who worked in North Haven. Her mother worked in New Haven and took the city bus to work. McEachern also took the bus.

“My father often worked late, and was tired by the time he came home,” McEachern said. “By that time, I had already gotten something from the bodega, and my mother cooked dinner, but I usually never ate it.”

To combat issues faced by families such as McEachern’s, and more severe cases, the New Haven Food Policy Council created a “Food Action Plan” in 2012 aimed at creating a healthier “food system” for the city.

Goals include increasing access to healthy food for New Haven residents and encouraging healthy food choices by educating residents.

Events such as a community potluck, cooking classes featuring nutritious food, and gardening activities have been held so far.

“I do think there needs to be programs that educate people in food deserts about nutritious food,” McEachern said. “But I wish more people knew about it. My family didn’t, my friends — they need to push it more.”

Melissa Barclay is a senior journalism student at Quinnipiac University. She is writing about food deserts this spring. She can be reached at melissa.barclay@quinnipiac.edu.

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New Haven programs work to educate on sustainable food

By Megan Alderman-Person

What is sustainable food?

According to Emmet Hedin, the Yale Sustainable Food Program’s (YSFP) student manager and registered volunteer coordinator, it involves using farming techniques that enhance health, while still protecting our environment.

Hedin grew up on a farm in the Midwest and always knew he wanted to be a part of the sustainable food industry. However, Hedin said Yale’s effort is not restricted to people in the food and agriculture industry, but welcomes anyone who is interested in learning more about sustainable food.

“Our aim is to help food literacy leaders create conversations among students and other food leaders today to help people,” Hedin said. “[Members] can talk about issues they never even considered before and create a sense of community on campus.”

Another organization aiming to bring some clarity and organization to the food system is the New Haven Food Policy Council. Mark Firla, a member, said it is an umbrella organization that aims to tackle issues of food and social justice in New Haven. There are many different working groups within the council, each with a different agenda.

One of these groups aims to help with low-income food assistance in New Haven. The members helped to expand the Commodity Supplemental Food Program for the elderly into Connecticut.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s website, “The Commodity Supplemental Food Program works to help improve the health of low-income persons at least 60 years of age by supplementing their diets with nutritious food products.”

The YSFP is also involved with the off-campus community. It has volunteer opportunities on its one-acre farm, where New Haven residents, students and guests of the university can get their hands dirty.

The produce from the farm is sometimes sold at the Worcester Square Farmers Market, the Yale catering service, or to local restaurants.

The YSFP also uses the farm for the “seed to salad” program, in which students from public elementary schools in New Haven come to work with the soil.

“It’s important for these students to get exposure,” Hedin said. “They learn that lettuce doesn’t come from the aisle at Stop and Shop. It comes from the ground.”

Meghan Alderman-Person is a senior journalism major at Quinnipiac University. She is writing about food this spring. She can be reached at meghan.alderman-person@quinnipiac.edu.

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Organizations work to reduce homelessness in New Haven

By Julia Perkins

Shelters and organizations in the New Haven region say their efforts to end homelessness are working, despite the poverty in the area.

There are many different reasons someone could become homeless. Mental illness, substance abuse, a tragedy such as a fire, or release from prison are all factors that contribute to homelessness, New Haven Emergency Shelter Management Services Executive Director Arnold Johnson said.

“There’s no one reason [for homelessness,]” he said. “I joke around all the time and say we’re all maybe two paychecks away from being homeless.

But poverty is often a big reason, said Alison Cunningham, the executive director of Columbus House in New Haven and Middletown. The cost of housing is high, she said, and a single adult could have to pay more than $1,000 a month for an apartment.

“Well if you’re disabled and on Social Security, you might get $703 a month, so do the math it doesn’t work,” she said.

New Haven was ranked No. 6 on a list of American cities with the greatest income inequality in a Brookings Institution study. About 24 percent of New Haven residents lived below the poverty level in 2013, as compared to 7.9 percent in the state, according to City-Data.com.

Yet, Connecticut recently announced it ended homelessness among veterans and has made it a goal to put a stop to chronic homelessness by the end of 2016. The number of homeless people in New Haven in 2015 has decreased by 9 percent since 2011, according to the Coalition to End Homelessness’ Point in Time count.

Liberty Community Services Executive Director John Bradley said this is because homelessness organizations in the state are getting more funding and collaborating more.

“Homelessness is a problem in the United States and Connecticut, but it is something we can do something about,” Bradley said. “New Haven, Connecticut and generally most parts of the country have seen a decrease in homelessness over the last couple years, which is not insignificant because we’re living in a time where housing prices are going up and income inequity is going up, but we’re still making progress on ending homelessness because we know what works.”

Bradley said one system that has been working is called the Coordinated Access Network (CAN).

This program was started in 2014 after President Barack Obama passed the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2009. This legislation required organizations to work together so that no one is homeless for more than 30 days and people do not return to homelessness, according to the Coalition to End Homelessness.

Under CAN, the state is separated into eight regions, and organizations pool their resources to get people into housing as soon as possible.

“It used to work that anyone who qualified for permanent supportive housing would put their name on the application of each individual agency,” Bradley said. “So that if we had an opening we would serve them, but if we didn’t they would go on the wait list of another agency. So that’s all changed now so that we’re coordinated, and no matter where the person comes in, they get access to the resources of the entire community.”

Everything is streamlined now so that there is one universal housing list, Cunningham said. For example, if someone calls United Way’s hotline for the homeless, 211, he or she would then meet with a coordinator for an assessment, get a shelter bed and then be put on the list.

The Greater New Haven region has gotten better at reducing the amount of time between when one calls 211 to when the person has an assessment to determine his or her needs, according to data from the Coalition to End Homelessness. From January 2015 to June 2015, the average wait time for an appointment was 28 days. This decreased to 12 days from July 2015 to January 2016.

A CAN specialist then works with the different organizations to see who has available subsidies that meet that person’s needs.

“That’s a great thing because that means we put all of our housing in a big pot and say here it all is and let’s just make sure the person comes up on the list to the very next available unit,” Cunningham said. “It’s a different way of doing business, and it’s worked very well to move people off that list very quickly.”

Julia Perkins is a senior journalism major at Quinnipiac University and is editor-in-chief of The Quinnipiac Chronicle. She is writing about poverty and income inequality this spring. She can be reached at julia.perkins@quinnipiac.edu.

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Inspections combat underage drinking in New Haven

By Megan Alderman-Person

With its close proximity to multiple colleges and more than 250 bars and nightclubs, New Haven is teeming with young people going out for a drink on any given weekend night. While most bars and nightclubs try to regulate their customers, underage drinking still occurs. To combat this problem, the state liquor commission conducts unannounced inspections to make sure both businesses and their customers are complying with the law.

Inspections are a joint effort between the state liquor commission and the city’s police department, according to Dave Hartman, New Haven police spokesman. In past years, the task force team for inspections has also included the fire marshal’s office and health department.

Inspections are rarely completely random, said Hartman.

“If you have a bar and people believe that they’re serving large numbers of students underage, we have gotten complaints from the universities, from parents and from other businesses in the area … that certainly weighs in,” Hartman said.

The general manager of Bar, Frank Patrick, is no stranger to inspections. Bar operates a restaurant by day and bar and nightclub on Thursday through Saturday nights. Because every room in Bar has an actual bar in it, all customers must be at least 21 years old or be accompanied by a parent to enter. In the 13 years that the liquor license has been in his name, Patrick said he has never had a violation during an inspection.

“We have a reputation of being strict with IDs, so we are going to get raided less,” Patrick said. “The police department tends to know what places are trouble places, so they’ll go there more often.”

Inspections often do not happen immediately after a complaint is made. The turnaround time is based on the availability of control agents from the state liquor department, according to Hartman. The agents then contact the police department, which puts together a group of people to supplement its team. However, if it is an issue of public safety, Hartman said, the city will send officers in right away.

These inspections are usually a surprise to the establishments and do not generally follow any pattern. Sometimes, Bar will have inspections a couple of times a year, but other times it will not have an inspection for more than a year, according to Patrick.

“They want to surprise you because there are a lot of bars out there that turn a blind eye to underage drinking,” Patrick said.

During the inspections, no customers are allowed to leave or come in. Patrick said the inspections do not hurt his business, but some of the time, the customers will give the liquor commission’s officers a hard time.

If an underage person is caught drinking during one of the inspections, they will most likely be cited for an infraction for underage drinking, but the establishments face bigger repercussions.

“The immediate responsibility is on the person serving the alcohol to ensure that where the alcohol goes is to someone of appropriate age,” Hartman said.

Meghan Alderman-Person is a senior journalism major at Quinnipiac University. She is writing about food this spring. She can be reached at meghan.alderman-person@quinnipiac.edu.

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Connecticut aims to end chronic homelessness

The state of Connecticut is on track to end chronic homelessness by the end of the calendar year, according to homeless shelter directors.

“That’s the next big push that we’re under now,” Executive Director of the shelter Columbus House Alison Cunningham said. “Every day looking at the numbers, seeing where the gaps are, where do we need the resources to make sure we’re getting people out very quickly and housed?”

Alison Cunningham, executive director of Columbus House

A person is considered chronically homeless if he or she lives with some sort of disability and has been consistently homeless for a year or has had multiple episodes of homelessness that equal 12 months, Cunningham said.

The state plans to eliminate chronic homelessness in a similar way to how the state ended homelessness among veterans: by having organizations and officials coordinate their efforts.

Connecticut became the second state to end homelessness among veterans, Gov. Dannel Malloy announced earlier last month, by developing ways for organizations across New Haven and the state to work together.

“This milestone is a major one – we have been a national leader on so many issues and today is yet another reflection,” Malloy said in a statement on Feb. 18. “We have a responsibility to take care of our veterans, to ensure that veterans have access to housing, quality health care, education, and career opportunities.  We’re proud to have achieved this ambitious goal.”

Cunningham said she is proud her organization’s role in this achievement.

“We’re really excited about that,” she said. “It’s going to make a huge difference in the lives of these folks.”

Columbus House in New Haven

But Cunningham said this does not mean veteran homelessness is eradicated forever.

“We’re not naïve enough to think that nobody will ever be homeless again, we know that it will happen,” she said. “But over the past two years, we’ve had massive restructuring of the systems that address the issue of homelessness, and there’s been a huge effort at coordinating our efforts in a way that makes a person’s homelessness a very brief amount of time.”

All of the homeless shelters and organizations in the state work together to make sure veterans find housing right away, Cunningham said. As soon as a veteran arrives at a shelter, Veterans Affairs is notified and the person is put in bridge housing, she said. Bridge housing is different from a shelter and is where people stay before they are put into permanent housing within 90 days.

“The system moves rapidly to get him into housing and along the way we’re beginning to address whatever issues there are,” she said. “But he’s going to be in housing, [have access to] the services attached and those services will continue to help the veteran deal with whatever it is, whether it’s income, security, employment, PTSD, mental health.”

John Bradley, the executive director of the homeless shelter Liberty Community Services in New Haven, said increased funding from the federal government, in particular the Department of Veterans Affairs also contributed to ending veteran homelessness.

“[The Department of Veterans Affairs] really kind of looked at what worked, made sure it was funding what worked and made sure that it increased the funding so that no veteran was homeless,” Bradley said. “And then the agencies and the communities were the ones who were responsible for the implementation of that.”

The state is receiving national praise for its work to end homelessness for veterans. First Lady Michelle Obama thanked Malloy for Connecticut’s work in a letter.

“As we discussed at the President’s State of the Union Address, I want to thank you and the people of Connecticut for your determined efforts on behalf of our military families,” Obama wrote. “I am so proud of your state’s commitment and resolve to reach this milestone, and I am grateful for all you have done for America’s heroes.”

However, Bradley said he sees an end to homelessness for all people in sight.

“I think the kind of promising thing about homelessness is that easily we have the ability to end it,” he said. “I do believe we have the tools. We need more funding and more coordination, but it’s definitely a problem that I think we can make significant improvement in.”

Julia Perkins is a senior journalism major at Quinnipiac University and is editor-in-chief of The Quinnipiac Chronicle. She is writing about poverty and income inequality this spring. She can be reached at julia.perkins@quinnipiac.edu.

 

Racial justice in New Haven: A Q&A with Barbara Fair

By Sarah Harris

Barbara Fair keeps fighting injustice in New Haven. Prior to founding My Brothers Keeper four years ago, she was with People Against Injustice for 13 years. Fair hopes to bring awareness to the injustices brought by the criminal justice system such as the use of tasers and programs for people out of prison. Her mission is to get people who are mostly impacted by these injustices to be at the forefront of this activism.

What are you currently working on now?

Primarily around police brutality. One of the things I was just assigned to was a police task force the mayor set for us trying to improve the relations between community police following an incident in downtown NewHaven about a year ago when a young girl was slammed to the ground by a police officer and she ended up getting injured in her shoulder. We fought to get him removed from the streets while they did an investigation and what happened, there was a lot of pushback from police officers and there was a big rally downtown, community and police crashing. That brought on the mayor’s suggestion to bring on this task force to try and see how to mend these relations.

While being on the task force, I was disappointed that there were no young people on it. Young people are the ones who have some of the worst interactions with the police and there were no young people so that was my first suggestion to the task force that was totally ignored. Another thing that kind of made me unsure about being part of it was that they said we could make recommendations but the police don’t have to support or accept any of them so that made me start thinking like ‘ok are we really trying to bring change or are we just window dressing efforts’, which I don’t want to be a part of. We have this report coming out I think sometime this month about the progress we’ve made.

Do you think it’s making any progress?

One thing about me is that I have to be honest, but honesty is not a good thing to some people. But to me I don’t really see us doing too much of anything to really bring some change to the way the community and police interact with each other. Just the fact that we don’t have any young people on the panel telling their stories, to me, was a great disservice.

Have you seen improvements in social work since Mayor Toni Harp has been in office?

I haven’t seen it but that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. I’m just saying when I go to community meetings or events or protests or stuff like that she’s a no show most of the time.

What is My Brother’s Keeper doing right now?

We do a lot of legislative work. I just attended a meeting this Friday with NAACP and ACLU, we are working on the issue of tasing because this young man who was just killed last week was in a car accident and he was the victim. And it was a serious car accident. And he ended up being tased by the state police and later on by the West Haven Police. He ended up dying so the investigation is trying to figure out why did he die. And what was the need for tasing the victim who was in a crash. They say he was combative but a dead man can’t talk so they have nothing to prove why they did it. We’re also talking about a lot of issues in the criminal justice system especially around the drug policy.

There’s the controversy surrounding gun control, but now it seems as though there’s controversy around tasers. How do you feel about that?

Well when they were first introducing tasers to the New Haven police officers, I was really against it. I testified in a local hearing that we had on it because I felt it was just another weapon the police would be using in our community randomly and unnecessarily. I thought they would be using them excessively. And so far there’s been 18 deaths from these tasers in Connecticut since 2005. Over ⅔ of those deaths have been black or latino. The guy I was just meeting with said he was tased and said it took him months to just stop feeling the affects of being tased. So they’re being used a lot more than they ever should be in such a small community.

Is your work more of just informing people, or do you do rallies as well?

We do rallies and protests, like I said; we’ve gone to Hartford and done protest there. We’ve been to Washington; I took a busload of women to Washington a bunch of years ago to talk about the mass incarceration of women. So we had women who attended that.

What are some of the biggest improvements you’ve seen while working on social issues?

For me, some people get excited about little incremental changes say around ending the war on drugs. For me, I’m not accepting anything less than ending the war on drugs period because it’s not about just drugs. It’s about Jim Crow being resuscitated and they just say it’s about drugs. So for me, I need to see the war on drugs end. Other people I work with are happy about marijuana being decriminalized and I’m not happy about that because I know there’s more meaning behind the war on drugs than there is about drugs. So now we’re seeing the heroin epidemic that’s now not touching the black communities, it’s touching more of the white people out in the suburbs and now the call is for more compassionate and just drug policy. Where when the epidemic was about crack and the black and brown community, was all about people need to go to jail, prison, they’re the scum of the earth. So it’s like we look through this drug situation differently depending on who the major victims are.

Do you think when people are fighting these issues they forget to look through that lens of race and who the victim is?

I’m not sure that they don’t see that race has a factor; I think people just want to deny it. For me it’s hard to hear people say ‘oh race doesn’t matter, that’s not a race issue’. If you see all the reports, all the disparities, and who goes to prison, who goes into programs, who gets arrested in the first place, how could you say it’s not about race. So I don’t know if people cannot see it or just don’t want to see it. For me it’s hard for me to not see race.

How do you feel about re-entry programs?

From what I’ve heard, because I talk to a lot of people who are out of prison, and they are struggling. They are really struggling. Many times homeless, because some of them have been locked up for so long that their families are no longer around. The drug policy, ya know, they also institute a policy where if the person goes to prison for drugs, then you can’t be in any government supported housing so that means sectioning projects where most people are poor so they can’t go live there. A lot of policies keep people from actually being able to transition back to society. It’s a lot about compassion. People talk a lot about, with the police, ‘oh we need to train more’. You can’t train and you can’t legislate compassion. And a lot of this stuff is because a lot of people lack compassion for those who don’t look like them or don’t live near them. If a person went to prison and paid the price for what they did, that should be the end of their sentence but many times it becomes a life sentence. Many times, they never get their life back together.

Who’s benefiting from these programs?

They have all these programs but the people who are benefitting the most from these programs are the administrators. For instance, a former New Haven police officer is now running a program to help people coming back home from state and federal prison. First of all, the job description doesn’t say you need to know what the needs are because how would a police officer know the needs of someone coming out of prison. These are the people sending people to prison. When do you get a chance to sit down and talk to people and say ‘you know what, what do you need when you come out’ yet this is the person heading the program. So who’s going to benefit from it?

Are the programs beneficial at all to prisoners?

If you surveyed these people getting out of prison and asked them about these programs, they would say that they’re a waste of time. There may be some that do a little bit of something, they’re not all bad but from majority I hear – I tell them go down to New Haven reentry or go down Dixwell Avenue, there’s different programs to help people and they say ‘I went to that place and it was a waste of time’.

I feel that when the felony took the placement of the laws, the Jim Crow laws that used to keep people out of jobs and stuff, the signs that say black people need not apply, they took the signs down and they developed policy that kept everything in place. So when I hear reform I just cringe, that’s why I’m supporting Bernie Sanders, we need a revolution in this country. There’s a whole revolution of just thought, the way we think about people, the way we see people and until that changes, reform is just another word for doing nothing.

Is it possible to have programs that aren’t funded by the government?

People who are really in this to win it, they will support ones that are actually being funded because that’s the only way you can really do something. I can tell you that I have a program that’s going to help people find housing. If there’s no money or no way to give somebody housing, then I can’t do much. And so if you get funding and most of your funding is going to administrative costs you really don’t have any money to do anything else. And that’s what I see with a lot of programs. The administration eats up so much of the money that there’s not really much left.

Are there enough youth programs?

No there’s never enough because we have a lot of kids running around, sitting on porches and stuff because there’s never enough. One of the things that my group and others, for over a decade now have been fighting to get the Q house back open. It was on Dixwell Avenue. It was this multifaceted organization that had all sorts of things inside of it including daycare, after school programs, health care, counseling, had all kinds of things, a gym for the kids and everything. We’ve been trying to get that to reopen for over a decade and we keep getting promises and promises and promises that they’re going to open it. they spent millions of dollars to people to plan it, still not opened. That could be a place where kids could come together. One time they tried opening an armory next to a jail, my pushback was, why would we want to have a building for our kids, attached to a jail. What kind of messages are we sending our kids. We have elementary school on Congress Avenue next to a drug re-entry program. I know that would never happen in the suburbs. These are the kinds of things that happen in New Haven. New Haven has become the sink tank for all sorts of problems.

How do you keep pushing even though you keep hitting so many roadblocks?

That’s what happens with a lot of people. For me, it’s to have the most impacted to fight their own battle and some of them are so beat down from all this stuff that they don’t get involved. For me, I guess I came from a different cloth of something. As far back as i can remember, I’ve always fought for what I thought was right. And so I can’t imagine just not doing anything about anything and just accepting all of this injustice in our lives and not doing anything. People ask me what keeps you going and I say without hope we have nothing. That’s what you see in New Haven, just so much hopelessness. Without that you don’t have anything. I’m holding on to hope that things do change if we just keep fighting hard enough and long enough.

Do you live in New Haven?

No, I live in West Haven, but all my work is in New Haven because New Haven has my heart. It’s just an oppressive city. I tell my daughter I can’t see this every day because it brings me down.

Sarah Harris is a senior journalism major at Quinnipiac University. She is writing about structural racism this spring. She can be reached at sarahanne.harris@quinnipiac.edu.

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New position will tackle New Haven’s ‘food deserts’

By Melissa Barclay

When was the last time you went to the grocery store? How long did it take you? What was your mode of transportation?

Residents of New Haven’s Newhallville neighborhood can’t easily walk or take public transportation to a grocery store.

For many Americans, a trip to the grocery store is a leisurely task. But for others living in areas designated as “food deserts,” access to healthy food is limited. Instead of having access to nutritious food, residents are surrounded by fast food joints that are cheap and convenient but unhealthy.

Some sections in New Haven have been designated as food deserts by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Based on the CARE 2015 health survey, hunger rates within the city’s six lowest-income neighborhoods soar up to 40 percent. In addition to that, 7 out of 10 residents are considered overweight or obese due to the lack of nutritious food in their diet.

To try and address this issue, the New Haven Food Policy Council has created a new position – food system director – which will be responsible for coordinating events raising awareness about the issue.

According to the job posting for the position, the food director will be responsible for creating and implanting strategies that will decrease the lack of access to healthy food within New Haven and serve as a liaison between the city and the New Haven Food Policy Council.

The position has yet to be filled.

Resident Joanne Ndiaye and her family have struggled without convenient access to a local supermarket.

“[I’m] no stranger to the task of trying to keep a balanced, healthy meal on the table,” she said.

Ndiaye has been a resident of the Hill section of New Haven for the last 10 years.  She is also a single mother of five children, and a beneficiary of the SNAP program.

SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It is a government program providing food stamps to families who qualify.

“Like so many other families, we depend on SNAP benefits and food pantries to make ends meet from month to month,” Ndiaye said.  “There were times we were left to eat foods that were not balanced and healthy.”

Public transportation is an issue in New Haven’s Newhallville neighborhood. city buses do not travel directly to the supermarkets, and some residents have to transfer to another bus to get there and back.

In order to get to the nearest grocery store, Save-A-Lot in Hamden, most residents have to travel about a mile and a half. But fast-food joints, such as Chinese food restaurants, are located within walking distance in the neighborhood.

Melissa Barclay is a senior journalism student at Quinnipiac University. She is writing about food deserts this spring. She can be reached at melissa.barclay@quinnipiac.edu.

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Wave gallery supports New Haven artisans

By Kellie Mason

Chapel Street in New Haven is crowded with Yale University students and men dressed in Italian loafers and silk ties. The sun is shining, but its warmth is deceiving because it is one of the coldest days of the year.

The Wave gallery at 1046 Chapel St. in New Haven features the work of local artists. (Kellie Mason photo)

Nestled among boutique shops and restaurants is Wave Art Gallery. The small gallery and gift shop, owned by Phyllis and Joseph Satin, has occupied its spot at 1046 Chapel St. for 30 years.

The shop regularly features local artists, said sales associate Rob Russell. The art varies from glass to jewelry, landscape paintings to hand-painted platters, greeting cards to photographs. Russell’s favorite local artist is Will McCarthy.

Naomi Lehrer, another associate, agreed and said her favorite thing they sell is the jewelry.

The store has high ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows to allow natural light to shine through. The white brick makes for a very simple background for the many paintings tacked on the walls. It smells like evergreen and cinnamon candles. A bell rings every time the door opens.

Russell and Lehrer said the shop’s location is perfect for their clientele.

“Everyone comes in here,” Russell said. “Students, famous professors, actors and lawyers — even Alan Dershowitz stopped in.”

Because of its location, Wave welcomes people from many different walks of life. Customers rarely leave empty-handed.

Folk band Aztec Two Step has been seen shopping in Wave.

“The store has so much to offer,” Russell said. “You can get boutique-style clothing or custom, hand-painted cake platters.”

Russell chats with a woman about the wide selection of jewelry, ranging in price. He said having a conversation with the customer enhances their shopping experience.

“As a customer, I always like to be greeted when I enter a store,” Russell said. “If I don’t get a hello I walk out. And that’s why I say something to everyone.”

A customer mentions to Russell that she sent a custom platter to San Francisco.

Russell said the Satins love featuring and supporting local artists and creatives who live and work in New Haven.

Every month the gallery hosts an event featuring a local artist.

Almost everything in the shop is created locally. The Satins noticed there was a need for a place to house paintings and glass-making that was created in New Haven.

“New Haven is rich with culture and art.” Lehrer said.

Kellie Mason is a senior journalism student at Quinnipiac University. She can be reached at kellie.mason@quinnipiac.edu.

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Abba’s Storehouse serves families in need

By Julia Perkins

Tucked in the middle of Wilbur Cross Commons Business Park in Hamden is Abba’s Storehouse.

Mercedes Sherman (left) and Cecilia Lewandowski (right) look over the list of food they ordered for the day on Sherman’s phone. (Julia Perkins photo)

The food bank, affiliated with Faith Healing and Deliverance Ministries, is open every third Saturday of the month from 9 to 11 a.m. About 55 to 70 families pass through the pantry between those hours. Most of the families are from New Haven, but about 30 to 40 percent are from Hamden, according to Mercedes Sherman, a New Haven resident who attends services at Faith Healing and Deliverance Ministries, which runs the pantry, and has volunteered there for years.

“There are a lot of people who go without food and who are struggling, even with state assistance to meet their needs — their needs for their entire family — especially the ones with a lot of children,” Sherman said. “That’s why you’ll see us be generous with someone who has a lot of family because we know the amount they get in food stamps doesn’t come close to what their needs are.”

When a woman with seven sons comes to get food, the volunteers jump to help her.

“Did she get sauce?” Cecelia Lewandowski, who runs the food pantry, asks one of the other volunteers.

Lewandowski starts digging through boxes of food behind the six tables set up around the room. Each table is filled with non-perishable items such as corn flakes, pasta, canned salmon, and one-pound bags of rice, as well as vegetables and bread. The storehouse keeps meat in the freezer, too, to give out to each shopper.

“Do you guys eat cranberries?” she asks.

“Craisins,” the woman responds.

“Okay, Craisins, all right.”

“Don’t forget your beans, honey. I’m still working on it,” another volunteer says as she packs food into one of the woman’s bags.

Lewandowski stepped up to run the food bank about six years ago after Faith Healing and Deliverance Ministries moved into one of the buildings in Wilbur Cross Commons Business Park. Its senior pastor, Sandra Jefferson, made it part of the church’s mission to offer a food bank to residents after the move.

 “It’s important because at any point in time it could be you on the other side, so you want to be able to help anybody in any way that you can,” Lewandowski said.

The food bank is run by volunteers. On Saturday, Feb. 20, three church members (besides Lewandowski) and five Quinnipiac University students from the Marketing Society were there handing out food.

It was the first time freshman marketing major Janelle Herbert volunteered at the food bank.

“The most satisfying part is just seeing all the people and being able to know that you made a difference in their lives,” she said. “And to help people who are less fortunate than you and who really need this. … I’ve met so many people. Most people are so friendly when they come in. They’re all so polite. It’s really great working with them and for them.”

Every Friday, Sherman goes to the Connecticut Food Bank in Wallingford to stock up on non-perishable items for the next time the pantry is open. Most weeks she gets about 300 to 400 pounds of food. However, on the Friday before the bank is open she gets nearly 1,000 pounds because she needs to buy perishable foods such as bread and potatoes. While produce is free at the Connecticut Food Bank, everything else costs a few pennies per pound. The storehouse pays for the food through donations and a grant from ShopRite, Sherman said.

Sherman and Lewandowski check out the food they have left at the end of the morning. (Julia Perkins photo)

Abba’s Storehouse is not the only place in Hamden that offers a food pantry. St. Ann’s Soup Kitchen, the Ministry of Helps Foundation, Love Center Deliverance Food Pantry, God’s Miracle Unlimited Outreach Ministry, St. Rita’s Food Pantry and Keefe Community Center all provide food pantries. Many of these pantries are open on different days, that way those in need can get food more often, Sherman said.

Still, Sherman said Abba’s Storehouse is one of the more popular ones.

“I’ve been told by a lot of the people who come here that they prefer coming to this food pantry because we do have meat,” she said. “Other food pantries don’t have meat, but then I realize that a lot of the churches and the organizations that do this, they don’t have a place to store it. And we’re very fortunate that we have freezers.”

Sherman has gotten to know some of the people who come to the storehouse every month.

“The same people come all the time and you get to know who only takes exactly what they need or who takes everything whether it’s what they need or not,” she said with a laugh.

Lewandowski said people start to line up to get food at 7 a.m.—two hours before the pantry opens.

“Because it’s first come, first serve,” she said. “Once we run out, we run out.”

But Abba’s has never run out of food completely. Even if there is no more meat or potatoes left, for example, the storehouse still will have something to give to a latecomer. While shoppers are supposed to show their ID when they come for food, if they forget, Lewandowski said she would never let anyone go home empty-handed.

“We don’t turn anybody away, especially when it comes to food and it’s the wintertime,” she said. “No, that doesn’t work. We don’t turn you away.”

Julia Perkins is a senior journalism major at Quinnipiac University and is editor-in-chief of The Quinnipiac Chronicle. She is writing about poverty and income inequality this spring. She can be reached at julia.perkins@quinnipiac.edu.

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