Tag Archives: hunger

Healing and Building Community Through Food: The Food Justice Coalition

By SLCgreen Intern Frances Benfell

*Jeanette Padilla Vega, Food Justice Coalition’s Founder, teaches a cooking class as part of community enrichment programming.*

According to Jeanette Padilla Vega, the founder and CEO of the Food Justice Coalition (FJC), humanity’s greatest unifier is food. As she put it, her organization is “trying to change the world one rice bowl at a time.” As I observed her community cooking class and the aromas of her vegan chicken curry filled the air, I believed in her food’s world-changing power.

The FJC was one of 13 community organizations awarded a Salt Lake City Food Equity Microgrant this year.

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Utahns Against Hunger Strives for a More Sustainable Food System

Welcome to SLCgreen Connections, an occasional series highlighting SLCgreen’s fantastic local partners—the people and organizations with whom we work closely to make Salt Lake City a greener, more vibrant, and sustainable city!

By Ardyn Ford, SLCgreen intern

Hunger. It is desperate and overpowering. Everyone has experienced it, but for some, it is extreme and long-term. Weeks go by with a deep, gnawing sensation inside, a pain so fierce that it almost feels alive.

This is a reality for more than 1 in 9 Utahns.

Food insecurity occurs when people cannot afford to buy enough food. It has significant impacts on productivity, happiness, and health, and because it impacts low-income families and individuals, it is often accompanied by threats to other basic needs such as shelter and clothing.

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