Pacific University
IN-26: Innovation C

In this project, we do taste education and meet your food events. The project highlighted here, is a partnership between the student farm, the CSS, our graduate school, and two low income clinics (one for diabetes, one for mental health) that serve primarily mono-lingual Spanish speakers in a community about 30 minutes from campus. The majority of these patients are seasonal agricultural workers or their families, whose degree of food insecurity contributes to their other health concerns. Childhood obesity and diabetes are tightly linked to food insecurity, and in the primarily Latinx community lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables because of cost, coupled with the relative inexpense of cultural food stuffs like tortillas, rice, and beans which have levels of glucose, are co-determining factors.

We labeled this project a CSA in our grant application, submitted as evidence because it is a term that is easily understood. But this is not a situation where people are buying shares. Rather, we are training future clinicians on culturally appropriate responses to food insecurity in low SES, ELL patients. How to talk to their patients, how to recognize that hunger and obesity are linked, how to balance cultural sovereignty and health.
We set up the vegetables like a grocery store, and after patients are seen, they ‘shop’ in private for food they would like to take home. All food is free. I provide recipe cards and fun food facts in Spanish, and for those patients with low level of literacy, there is a fluent speaker available who can answer questions after they leave the shopping area. We do not limit what is taken, or divide food into shares. This is not an urban agriculture project, these clinics serve the rural areas of western Washington county.

Confirmation email of service grant:

From: Howe, Mic
Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2018 2:01:54 PM (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
To: Larkins, Michelle L.; Marrero, Kamila; Timpone, Carole A.
Cc: Losli, Allie C.
Subject: Congratulations! You have been awarded a grant from the Gabelnick Endowed Fund for Community Service

I am very pleased to inform you that your proposal Increasing Healthy Food Access for At-Risk Community Members Receiving Care at Pacific Health Professions Clinics has been selected to receive a $1000 grant from the Faith Gabelnick Fund for Community Service for the 2018/19 academic year. Congratulations!

Recipients of grants from the Faith Gabelnick Endowed Fund may be asked to give a presentation to the University community on the outcome of your project, and will be asked to submit a report to the President’s Office at the end of the year describing how the funds were used.

In the meantime, please let us know the budget number where you would like the funds transferred to (transfer will be made after July 1 for the 2018/19 fiscal year). On behalf of the selection committee, we wish you well as you begin planning to implement this very deserving project, and again, congratulations on receiving this award.

Sincerely,

Mic