The brightly lit dining room on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville was bustling with many who'd come to share a meal in celebration of the nationally influential campus pantry and food-recovery program and a large gift from Tyson Foods.
Chartwells, the corporation that furnishes prepared foods for the university, prepared the impressive evening buffet from UA pantry supplies and chicken donated by Tyson.
My colorful plate included chicken cordon bleu, a stuffed red pepper, salad and bread. But what I saw as the star of this gathering was a nutritious cheesy rice mixture called Pack Shack developed locally by Jarod Ring and Bret Raymond.
The innovative tasty and filling meal-in-itself contains rice, cheese powder, dried vegetable mix, and salt, and provides protein, vitamins and minerals. The process of assembling these ingredients has become somewhat of a local phenomenon in what are known as Pack Shack "Feed the Funnel" parties, complete with rousing pop music and even impromptu dancing.
In preparing and serving a million such meals at these parties since March, participants who range in age from preschool through college students and the elderly have discovered a unique way to give back to the thousands who are food insecure in Northwest Arkansas. One observer said watching Pack Shacks transform from raw ingredients at one end of the assembly process to cooked and complete individual servings was '"like watching time-lapse photography."
Food insecurity means a household uncertain of either having or being able to obtain enough food to meet the needs of all its members due to insufficient money or resources. And it's a far larger growing problem in the nation and this region (particularly among college students) than most of us realize.
The nutritious and filling Pack Shacks (thepackshack.org), while quick and easy to assemble en masse, are helping ease the problem. They are being regularly created and widely circulated by volunteers at schools, nonprofits, churches, college groups and concerned folks who want to give something of themselves to the struggle.
The meal was followed by comments from Angela Oxford, who directs the Full Circle Campus pantry, and her graduate assistant Claire Allison. Oxford praised the many student volunteers who actually manage and run this program that, after three years in operation, today freely distributes food to hundreds of their peers and staff each week.
In fact, she said 16,000 meals have been served in the past seven months. Oxford also thanked a supportive administration, as well as Chartwells and its staff, for teaching the students "what it means to be good partners" in the world of food recovery and distribution. Chartwells at UA has become instrumental in recovering food it prepares yet never serves at various college and related functions.
The UA also has become the nationally envied go-to campus for its food pantry, mentoring at least 85 campuses nationwide into forming their own versions. Oxford said Jane Gearhart, wife of Chancellor David Gearhart, has become "a champion and friend of the pantry's program. I've actually caught her at 7 a.m. sweeping the floor with sleeves rolled up with the students ... making change in our community."
Tyson executives from the corporation's department of social responsibility were at the banquet along with a handful of their youthful interns who have worked closely with students to build the food-recovery and pantry programs. They brought along an oversized check for $225,000 that will help build the school's burgeoning program into an even brighter national collegiate star in resolving food insecurity.
The evening's keynote speaker, Marge Wolf, CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank, asked those in the crowd if they've ever been "really, really, truly hungry" and if they understood what it was like to be food insecure.
"Hunger reaches deeper into Northwest Arkansas than most people think," she said. "And it spans all genders and races ... Mississippi and Arkansas are at the top of the states when it comes to food insecurity among residents. In Northwest Arkansas, 21.2 percent were food insecure in 2013 and 40 percent of those served were under 18."
Wolf also said the phenomenon has steadily grown among college students in recent years, adding that many now have to choose between buying a textbook and eating that week.
Therein lies one value of the UA's innovative pantry and food-recovery program that is helping stem this rising tide. In fact, Wolf's organization was instrumental in helping launch the university's pantry. The community food-supply folks from various agencies have worked closely with each other toward their common goal.
I was most impressed and reassured by the group of 20 or so student pantry volunteers and six young Tyson employees working closely with them in the fight against food insecurity who stood bright-faced and shoulder-to-shoulder to receive lengthy, well-justified applause at evening's end.
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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at mikemasterson10@hotmail.com.
Editorial on 11/22/2014