TAMPA, Fla. — Leaders from local organizations recently got together to ask what the most pressing issues are in Tampa’s Black community. They came up with a list that included things like homelessness, mental health care and food insecurity.
The Florida Department of Health defines food insecurity as a social and economic factor that affects health.
Low-income families are affected by multiple, overlapping issues that include lack of affordable housing, social isolation, chronic or acute health problems, high medical costs, and low wages. People experiencing food insecurity often consume a nutrient-poor diet, which may contribute to the development of obesity, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and other chronic diseases.
For Tampa residents like Valarie Bullock, having a green thumb is coming in handy.
“I go to the store, I buy the greens and the bottom, it’s a root on it. We don’t know it. So I get the root and I just stick it in a pot,” she said.
If she can find a seed for it, Bullock said she is planting it.
“If you have collard greens, tomatoes, bell peppers, onions. Garlic is the easiest to grow. We should be able to go to the store, purchase it one time and then start growing our own,” she said.
And while it’s better for her health, it’s also good for her pocketbook.
“Since the mom and pop stores left or the stores that I was used to going to when I was a little girl, now we have any kind of stores coming in here and we’re getting grade D food,” she said. “It’s out of necessity. If I keep going to the store, collard greens were two for $5, $1.99 a bunch. The other day in Winn Dixie they were $4.99 a bunch. We cannot keep paying those prices and especially when it’s so easy to grow our own.”
It only takes one seed to make a difference for some families. But to make an impact on an even larger scale when it comes to food insecurities, it’s going to take an entire community. That is why some community gardens are flourishing.
The lush green fruits and vegetables are part of what Lena Young Green envisioned when the Tampa Heights Community Garden first opened.
”Because we grow our veggies ourselves, it has a different taste,” she said. “And because it’s organic, it has a different taste. And we would know that we were nourishing our bodies. That we could take a seed and with that seed and a number of different seeds, you could actually feed you’re your family,” she said.
It’s a way of life Green has passed on to new gardeners and community volunteers like Regina Polite.
According to Feeding America, in Florida, one in nine people face hunger. That’s approximately 2,314,370 people and of them, 613,180 are children.
It’s part of their inspiration to come up with a plan to help get to the root of food insecurity.
“We’re gonna have this food hub where we’re gonna be selling our veggies back to the community for little or nothing when that gets started. We have what? Fifteen months,” Polite said.
“Yeah, we have 15 months!” said Green. “Another layer that we’re going to be doing with the Coalition of Community Gardens with a grant we received from the USDA, and this is through Regina’s garden.”
“With that, we are being very intentional about the impact of the food. So if I grow six carrots and Regina grows six onions and she’ll only use two onions for the week and I’ll only use two of my produce, now we have access. And we’re able now to put that in a marketplace, an urban marketplace and offer that for sale,” she said.
It’s a heavy lift, but one they’re working to make sure the community is aware of, and they’re starting with the upcoming Health and Wellness Resource Fair.
They’re hoping to make the kind of difference that encourages more people like Valarie to plant the seeds that will uproot food insecurity.
The fair is this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It’s being held at 5101 North 40th street in Tampa.
The event is free and open to the public.