Forming An Opportunity
I believe there is an unmet need in society in the form of dealing with hunger across the US. Anyone who lives paycheck to paycheck or who can’t even afford groceries has come across this problem and may receive food at homeless shelters. The need for hunger in the US to be addressed has always been a problem and wasn't fully taken into account by the country until Michelle Obama made childhood health a point in the government. To begin to combat hunger across the country, organizations such as The Hunger Project, Food Pantries, and Children’s Hunger Alliance have formed. However, many of these organizations run off donations and cannot solve the problem for world hunger alone. Personally, I believe an untapped gold mine for helping hunger is restaurants. Restaurants could help to tackle this issue by putting their leftover food to good use. A study by Food Waste Reduction Alliance recorded that 84.3% of unused food in restaurants is thrown away according to Business Insider. Business models that collect leftovers from food and donate them to homeless shelters have begun forming, but none successful enough to make a big impact in the issue.
- Undergraduate male student in a long term relationship.
- Have you or anyone you've ever known been affected by hunger?
- Did you know that 1 in 6 households don’t have enough money for food?
- Did you know that Americans throw away roughly 80 billion pounds of food a year?
- Do you know anyone that actively donates to food hunger organizations?
“I don't know anyone that actively donates food.”
- What do you currently do to help hunger across the US? Do you think more could be done?
“I try to waste as little food as possible, I think more could be done by restaurants that have leftovers whereas a lot of people don’t have time to go out of their way to deliver food to donation services.”
- How much food do you think you waste?
Reflection: A typical college student is generally unaware of how many families across the US are impacted by hunger and has put little thought into how hunger can be combated as a whole. I found it surprising, however, that this particular interviewee was conscientious of their food waste because many studies suggest that America as a whole is not.
2. Middle aged man with a family of 4, middle class stance
- Have you or anyone you've ever known been affected by hunger?
- Did you know that 1 in 6 households don’t have enough money for food?
- Did you know that Americans throw away roughly 80 billion pounds of food a year?
- Do you know anyone that actively donates to food hunger organizations?
- What do you currently do to help hunger across the US? Do you think more could be done?
- How much food do you think you waste?
Reflection: More middle aged people have had more exposure to the issue and understand that it happens across the country. However, they still do not try to alleviate the issue.
3. Mid Twenties Female, Lower middle class
- Have you or anyone you've ever known been affected by hunger?
- Did you know that 1 in 6 households don’t have enough money for food?
- Did you know that Americans throw away roughly 80 billion pounds of food a year?
- Do you know anyone that actively donates to food hunger organizations?
- What do you currently do to help hunger across the US? Do you think more could be done?
- How much food do you think you waste?
Reflection: Even with direct exposure to the issue and how it can impact a family, people are still slow to donate to hunger as a cause.
Summary: After my interviews, I think that an even larger market for food donation can be opened by tapping into restaurants. Out of all three people I interviewed, each from different backgrounds and socioeconomic statuses, not one was actively trying to help the hunger cause or knew of anyone trying to help it, but, they all knew that hunger existed. This suggests that the issue has been presented to society, but that many people don't understand the severity of it and therefore don’t feel the need to donate to the cause. Therefore, something more needs to be done then simply relying on donations. I think with appropriate research, as well as restaurant approval, that a food service could be made that picked up a restaurants leftover food at the end of the day and delivered it to homeless shelters/food hunger organizations. I believe that although this wont fix the issue, it will significantly improve it.
Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that hunger across the US is a very pressing issue. I did not know the huge extent of the problem until reading the blog and I think tapping into restaurants is a great idea. I know from where I work over the summer that the quick service restaurants on property throw away hundreds of pounds of food each day. That food can be taken by someone to soup kitchens/homeless shelters and make someone's day as you mentioned. This would be an excellent start and maybe if restaurants can get on board, so can communities and families.
Elizabeth, you had an awesome set of people that you interviewed. I think showing that all of these people no matter what status/ethnicity don't really try to fight the hunger issue in the world, even seeing hunger and poverty first hand. I agree whole heartedly that hunger is a major problem especially in larger cities around the country. Small communities like where I'm from never really get to see how hunger effects many, even poor people always have enough to eat in small towns, we can even grow it if need be. Now that I know how significant the hunger problem actually is I will try and do more to recycle foods that aren't going to get ate to soup kitchens, homeless shelters, etc.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the context of your interviews. This assignment really helped me to go out and hear some real world feedback and criticism of my app idea. I took the criticism and applied it to what I have been doing since. One thing about running a business is that if you don't have any customers you do not have a business. You must give your customers when they want in order for you to gain, retain them and have a business at all.
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