To me, everyone has the right to the access of food, specifically healthy food, and the knowledge to know what healthy food actually is. This March, I took part in Alternative Spring Break (ASB), a week-long service trip in Boston, Phoenix or New Orleans. I was accepted to the Boston trip, where I explored food justice with about 20 other Emmanuel students.
To be honest, I didn’t know what food justice was before attending this trip. But the trip was organized with educational components so we could learn more about the topic along the way, and we really got to see food justice in action. We went to places like Pine Street Inn, Community Servings, Rosie’s Place, Urban Food Project, Greater Boston Food Bank, Nazareth Residence, and Franciscan Food Center. We prepared and served food, shared our education about food with others, helped in urban gardens by planting fruits and vegetables and so much more.
Pine Street Inn was the first site I attended. I helped prepare meals in the kitchen alongside ASB volunteers, and Pine Street Inn volunteers and employees. After our service was over, we were lucky enough to get a tour of the Inn. We saw the men’s half of the building first and I immediately wondered what would happen if a man and a woman came there together. What about married couples, friends, or siblings? Then I realized that whenever I see homeless individuals, they are usually alone. The homeless often struggle with addictions and mental illness, making maintaining relationships difficult. Places like the Inn provide them with a sense of community. However, seeing the beds people sleep in each night, handing them the food they depend on and helping the organization keep them alive made me face a harsh reality. The magnitude of poverty, food insecurity, and homelessness in Boston is incredible (and not in a good way). This is all happening in our own backyard, yet so many people are unaware.
We talked about this as a group during reflections each night. We discussed how we all felt a strange awareness of our own privilege on this trip. There is no reason why any of us deserve what we have, more than any of the people we served. These people have to strive and bend over backwards for things we often take for granted– like food and a roof over our head. How is this fair? I, as well as many of my peers, began feeling guilty for having such privilege, but soon found that what we do with our privilege is what really matters.
One reflection that sticks out in my mind is a story about starfish: A man approached a boy throwing starfish back into the ocean. When asked what he is doing, the boy said he was throwing the starfish back in the water so they wouldn’t die. The man told the boy there are hundreds of starfish and that he couldn’t possibly make a difference. But the boy replied by saying, “I made a difference to that one.”
This story remained symbolic because we knew we weren’t changing the world, or even the system. However, making a small difference in whatever way we could during the time we had was still important. One small act will lead to another, and eventually all the small acts will result in a big difference. Helping one is better than not helping any.
I could easily be someone at Pine Street Inn hoping to get a bed to sleep in at night or at Rosie’s Place asking for a meal or at the Franciscan Food Center getting my groceries for the week. It doesn’t take much for a person’s life to change entirely, and when it does, that doesn’t lessen their dignity. We don’t see what’s going on behind the scenes and we can’t assume things will eventually get better for everyone. Most importantly, we can’t wait for someone to come and change the system. We live in a place where poverty, homelessness and food insecurity exists and we need to help now.
If you know someone who attended one of the ASB trips this semester, I strongly encourage you to ask them to share their experience with you. At Emmanuel, we have been given great privilege and are surrounded by endless opportunities to serve. The question is: What will you do with your privilege?