November 1, 2016 – KVMR Community Radio and Interfaith Food Ministry are hosting the Food Insecurity Forum, sponsored by Grocery Outlet, with support from other community organizations, being held at the Nevada Theatre, 401 Broad Street in downtown Nevada City, on Tuesday, November 1st from 6-8pm. Admission to the forum is free to the public. It will also be broadcast live on KVMR 89.5FM, streamed at kvmr.org and available on mobile devices via the KVMR app. The broadcast will be available on demand afterwards on the community radio station’s archives at archive.kvmr.org
Food Insecurity is the lack of access to enough food for an active healthy life for all household members. It requires families to make decisions on allocating their income between important basic needs such as housing, medical needs or nutritional food.
Over 14% of the population in Nevada County struggle with Food Insecurity. Examples include, but are not limited to, senior citizens living on a fixed income that doesn’t cover food expenses through the end of the month, young families that pay their bills with insufficient funds leftover to purchase nutritious food for their children, individuals who paid their children’s college tuition then lost their business and/or employment in the recession and single-parent households.
The mission of this forum is to not only inform our community about the insidious impact of hunger, but also to motivate our community to support at least one of the programs in alleviating Food Insecurity.
“Food, before shelter or love, is the most basic human need,” says Kate Laferriere, Development Director for Interfaith Food Ministry. “Food Insecurity impacts every aspect of society; education, public health, government, and law enforcement. A community’s strength, whether in character, service, or law enforcement is based on its ability to care for its weakest members. No one should feel the hurt of hunger.”
KVMR News Director, Paul Emery will moderate the discussion with a panel of experts from local food service organizations including Sierra Harvest, Nevada County Public Health, The Nevada County Food Bank, Gold Country Community Services and United Way of Nevada County.
The forum will open with panelists discussing the Food Insecurity issue and its impact on the local community. Following that the panel will answer questions from the media and from audience members.