Ideas Big And Small Emerge From Hunger Discussion

North Carolina is among the worst states in the country for food insecurity, and the problem is even worse in the Piedmont Triad. 

Thursday night, more than 160 people gathered at the “Feeding Change” community conversation to talk about how to make a difference. (Full Disclosure: WFDD was a cosponsor of the event). 

Using “round-robin”-style group discussions, residents suggested everything from improving food education to mobile grocery stores aimed at serving the region's food deserts.

Betsy Browder is a pediatrics resident at Wake Forest. She says she sees the need for better nutrition every day in a clinical setting, but she was happy to hear new, creative ideas from other attendees.  

“I think it's a whole community effort to reach the kids and the families we hope to help. And so, learning about what other people are doing in the community was what really piqued my interest in being here.”

Wake Forest University Provost Rogan Kersh says the conversation was productive.

“We had a short breakout discussion at the end and there must have been 35 ideas just tossed out in five or six minutes," says Kersh. "I can't wait to sit with these results and see what meaningful impact we can make on hunger in the Triad.”

Kersh is leading a mayoral panel on food insecurity, and says the best of these ideas could be discussed in meetings to come.