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Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry

As the year winds down, it's traditionally a time to take stock of where we're at on a personal level and beyond. I and my family have been fortunate in many ways this year and generally enjoy good health and food on the table. But for believers and non-believers alike, the phrase "there but for the grace of God" reminds us that, despite our best intentions and sound decisions, misfortune can hit anytime and anywhere like a figurative (or literal) hurricane.

Recently, I contacted the Community Program Manager at the Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry, Kristi Braun, who kindly give me some insight into the workings of our local food pantry (Oak Park and River Forest are villages just west of Chicago) and told me how they're dealing with this year's particular challenges. Here's what she had to say:

____________ Q: Has the latest round of food stamp cuts affected the food pantry's projected need for resources? We are seeing an upsurge in client visits. Too early to tell if that is a result of the SNAP (food stamp benefit) cuts , but the timing is right. I think we will see more people coming.  Where else are they going to get the food they need?

Q: How can local residents get involved and what is the best way to donate (volunteering, cash, specific food items)? There are a number of ways that local residents can get involved.  People immediately think of donating food as the #1 way to help out.  Our focus is to provide protein-rich, nutrient-dense food to our clients.  Protein food donations go a long way.  Food costs have gone up considerably, especially protein foods (meat, peanut butter, tuna, etc).  Of the 60,000 lbs. of food that are distributed each month, only 40% of it comes from food donations.  We have to purchase approximately 60%.  A $1 donation enables us to purchase $10 worth of food.  We purchase our food from the Greater Chicago Food Depository (1 of 8 IL food banks).  So monetary donations go a long way.  And volunteering is always a great way to get involved at the food pantry.  We have been averaging 1,600 volunteer hours each month.  Needless to say, volunteers are the backbone of our organization. 

Q: How widespread is the hunger problem in our area? Food insecurity in Oak Park is 10.5%.  In Austin it’s 34.2%.  The other communities we serve range from a River Forest low of 5.1% to Humboldt Park at 22.1%.  One of 4 families with children region-wide are food insecure.  One in three working poor and single mother-headed households are food insecure.

Q: How does the pantry get its funding? (private donations, federal/state funding, community organizations?) All of the above.  By far our biggest source of funding is individual donations.  The only federal support we have is USDA commodities (about 10% of the food we distribute).  We also have a Community Development Block Grant through HUD (allocated through the Village of Oak Park), but it is only about 5% of our funding. 

Q: How will the pantry mark the coming holidays? While we would love to be able to provide our clients with specialty holiday items (turkeys, hams, etc) we have chosen to spend our food dollars on nutrient-dense and protein-rich foods throughout the year rather than focus a large amount of food dollars on holiday foods that only benefit a few or by providing smaller amount of food needed for day to day meals. ____________ The numbers of those going hungry in the richest nation on earth are sad and staggering, but maybe the most significant number is the amazing statistic that food pantries get a 1000% boost in buying power for every dollar they receive.

For more information on the Oak Park-River Forest Food Pantry, here's a video that goes into more detail: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i06omP_xxh8

Many thanks to Kristi and to all the Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry volunteers. And to all a great Thanksgiving and remember that giving to those in need is a year round thing.

Sketchnotes from CBS Sunday Morning

I'm trying to get used to doing quick sketch notes of news programs to keep in practice. Here's a few from yesterday's "CBS Sunday Morning", a show that I love and try to never miss. The idea here is to do this as often as I can and hopefully develop my sketch note techniques.

The Head that Wouldn't Die

I caught this story while listening to on public radio a couple of weeks back about a recent discovery to come out of Rice University's Dept. of Biochemistry and Cell Biology. A faculty professor there, Janet Braam, found that some produce, which in her experiments included cabbage, responded to light and dark cycles, known as circadian rhythms, days after being harvested. Cruciferous veggies such as cabbage use these cycles to produce cancer-fighting compounds. For nutritionists, grocers, and food distributors, this finding will likely have a significant effect on the way fruits and vegetables are handled. By regulating the light and dark cycles to mimic nature, they'll be able to coax the maximum health benefits out of their produce.

More info on Prof. Braam and her colleagues' ongoing research can be found here.

A new "Cosmos"

Before cable's TV's specialization, science programming on television was a rarity, so when PBS originally aired the 13-hour series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage in 1980, it was an immediate hit and remains the most widely viewed PBS series ever worldwide. One of the primary reasons for Cosmos' popularity was its creator and host, Carl Sagan, who came across as a kindly, wise teacher gently leading viewers through the wonders of the universe.

I, like many others, first became acquainted with Carl Sagan during the initial run of Cosmos and attribute my layman's interest in science to his contagious sense of wonder. One of the first books I ever bought was his exploration of evolution and how it relates to religious mythology in The Dragons of Eden. And if there's one book that I believe should be (but alas never will be) mandatory reading for every high school freshman, it's The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Darkness, his very readable primer on the scientific method and maintaining a healthy skepticism, or what Sagan calls 'baloney detection'.

In 2014, a new incarnation of Cosmos will find its home, surprisingly enough, on the Fox network. In another unlikely twist, the series' producer is Family Guy creator and Academy Awards host, Seth MacFarlane, who has long been interested in bringing the series back to TV. With Cosmos' originator and host no longer around to MC the proceedings, his duties are being assumed by esteemed astrophysicist and Director of the Hayden Planetarium, Neil deGrasse Tyson, who succeeds his hero and mentor Carl Sagan as the nation's most popular 'popularizer' of science. During his early academic career, Sagan tried to lure the young Mr. Tyson to study at Cornell University, where he taught, to no avail (Tyson instead chose Harvard for his undergraduate studies.). Nevertheless, they remained close friends and colleagues in the years to follow. With the involvement of Neil deGrasse Tyson and Ann Druyan (Dr. Sagan's widow and a highly respected author and producer in her own right), I'm hopeful that this new Cosmos will soar to the heavenly heights of the original.

Google Glasses for the Masses

If the oracles at Google are to be trusted, it's poised to be the next big thing. And before continuing, yes, I know it's called Google Glass, not Google GlassES, however I opted to take some creative liberties to make for a catchier meme.

So what does it (they) do? According to Glass evangelists , its power is limited only by software developers' vision. In this initial release, Glass will primarily be a means of interfacing with the internet and all its glory in a more intuitive, hands-free way. But whether it will be a hit with the general public is an open question, especially when it's already been the subject of ridicule on Saturday Night Live and received scathing pre-release reviews like this and this.

New high tech gadgets, especially one involving wearable fashion statements like eyewear, will have to be doubly desirable in terms of functionality to overcome the glaring "dork factor". If the Segway couldn't catch on, despite all it's pre-release buzz and luminaries including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to gush that "cities will be built around this device", it's not too surprising that the public is a bit more skeptical of pre-release hype nowadays.

Google plans to release the first version of Google Glass to consumers in early 2014 at a cost of just under $1,500. Lines are forming now.