GREENVILLE, N.C. — According to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, the Greenville area has 70,000 people who struggle with food insecurity. That number is up 38% since COVID began.
What You Need To Know
- The Greenville area has over 70,000 people struggling with food insecurity
- East Carolina University hosted a Yam Jam last month to sort items donated to the local food bank
- Local farmers donated 18,000 pounds of sweet potatoes for the event
Volunteers at East Carolina University are trying to help.
Last month, they hosted a Yam Jam event where volunteers sorted 18,000 pounds of sweet potatoes for the local food bank. Each bag of potatoes goes directly to people in the Greenville community struggling with food insecurity.
“It is a lot [of sweet potatoes],” said Terrell Saunders, a volunteer and student at ECU. “I've never seen this many, but it's great because this is going to feed so many families.”
Saunders has worked with a lot of local food banks to help fight food insecurity and provide access to fresh food for those in need.
“I've always had the privilege of not having to worry about where my food came from growing up,” Saunders said. “So I didn't even know that food insecurity existed for such a long time.”
Parts of eastern North Carolina are in what's known as a food desert, or an area with limited access to affordable and nutritious food. However, Saunders says a lot of people don't even know what food deserts are.
“Once I knew how bad it was I kind of felt a calling to participate as much as I could,” he said.
Alex Dennis, assistant director at ECU's Center of Leadership and Civic Development, says food insecurity isn't talked about enough, but he hopes to raise awareness through community outreach events like Yam Jam.
“It's just a fun event to be able to bring faculty staff and students together in order to serve,” Dennis said. “That's our motto at ECU is service, to serve. And really just give back to Eastern North Carolina that gives so much to us.”
Saunders agrees and says that's part of a good college education — learning about the world, educating ourselves and pushing ourselves to make a difference.
“I think food is a critical necessity. So it's part of that privilege,” Saunders said. “You don't know what people are experiencing unless you go through it. Through certain set of eyes, you wont know it existed. So it's important for us to come together and make sure people do have access to food and fight for their rights to have food both on the local, state and national levels.”
ECU originally had their Yam Jam scheduled for 2020, but they postponed due to COVID. Food bank staff are happy that they have freedom to do community events again. They will be planning more Yam Jams around the state later this year.