Feast and Famine: Obesity, Diabetes and Hunger in New York City
Drew Gardens
On Wednesday, November 19th, the Public Health Association of New York (PHANYC) wil sponsor a symposium at Lehman College in the Bronx entitled: Feast and Famine: Obesity, Diabetes and Hunger in New York City. The event, which is cosponsored by the MPH program at Lehman, will take place between 6 and 8PM at the Faculty Dining room of the Music Building at Lehman College. For directions, click here.
The program will include presentations by a diverse group of Bronx community activists. Among these are:
Sister Mary Alice of the Part of the Solution Soup Kitchen on Webster Avenue. POTS started in 1982 with three people making soup in a Bronx store front. “At that time, the original founders were told that POTS was the 35th emergency food provider in New York City . Twenty-four years later, there are over 170 providers in the Bronx alone.”
Lorraine Montenegro and Christian Estrada of United Bronx Parents, Inc will also discuss hunger in the Bronx. UBP runs a variety of programs including La Escuelita, which includes a homeless hot meals program and an emergency food pantry.
Someone from the local Health Department will discuss Bronx Farmers’ Markets.
Jennifer Plewka of the Phipps Development Corporation will discuss community gardens. Phipps is a large non-profit which develops, owns and manages affordable housing. Phipps also runs a community development corporation which created Drew Gardens in the West Farms section of the Bronx. Details on the garden are available from the Bronx River Alliance at this link.
Marian Feinberg of For A Better Bronx (FABB) will discuss several initiatives to support alternative food sources including community gardens, farmers’ markets and indoor food growing.
David Sappire of the Council on the Environment will discuss the Learn It, Grow It, Eat It program in the Morrisania section of the South Bronx. You can see this program in action in a video clip from an August 2008 WCBS TV news report.
A representative of Bronx Health Reach will discuss their Bodegas Outreach Initiative which encourages bodega owners to low-fat snacks, 1% milk, and a variety of fruit.
Many of these programs work in collaboration with local academic medical centers including Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and the Institute for Family Health.
For more information or to RSVP, please contact PHANYC at info@phanyc.org.
Posted by Matt Anderson
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