On the brink of a food desert: Neighborhood grocery store closures dry up supply

The neighborhood Wal-Mart on the corner of 13th and Oliver will shut its doors Thursday, leaving the neighborhood surrounding Wichita State deprived of fresh produce and living in a food desert.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines a food desert as “urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food.” The Food Access Research Atlas marks Wichita State as an area where almost 20 percent of households are without vehicles and more than half-a-mile from a supermarket.

“Right now we could be looking at a food desert in that immediate area,” said Councilwoman Lavonta Willliams on ksn.com.

As healthy, economic food resources diminish surrounding the campus, a new initiative to reduce food waste could help offset the disparity of fresh food in the area.

“If you are [not] within a mile of having access to adequate resources, you are in a food desert,” said Erik Young, member of the Hunger Awareness Initiative at WSU.  “If you are vegetarian or vegan and need certain foods, and if you do not have a car, how will you get food when [Shocker Hall] closes?”

Young and the Hunger Awareness Initiative are teaming up with Sodexo, Wichita State’s Community Service Board and the Food Recovery Network to recover Sodexo’s leftover food instead of throwing it away.

Based out of Maryland, the Food Recovery Network is the largest student-run nonprofit battling food waste in America. Partnering with Sodexo, FRN has already recovered more than a million pounds of food nationwide.

After the food is recovered, volunteers will take it to partner agencies, Paradise Baptist Church, 4401 E. 17th St. N., and the Union Rescue Mission, where it will be available to anyone in the community.

“We are trying to keep it close to campus now so students can access the food easily,” Young said.

Partner agencies must be nonprofits, agree not to sell the food and have a facility where food can be stored.

Young said the first recovery will be Feb. 1.

“The more we can do to help college students that are hungry, the better off we are as a university community.” Young said.