This summer, I had the opportunity to intern with Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana. The experience has emphasized some of the struggles that Indiana residents face on a daily basis and has specifically highlighted the ways that food insecurity is connected to poor health outcomes.
I worked on a few different projects during my time with Gleaners. First, I helped to implement the nutritional ranking system by indicating the nutritional value of items in Gleaners’ inventory.
This demonstrated the importance of not only providing food to food-insecure households but also providing healthier and nutritious foods that support healthy lifestyles. I also worked with
the Gleaners SNAP (supplemental nutrition assistance program) outreach team to contact neighbors who applied for SNAP and understand why they may have been denied benefits. This
project afforded me the opportunity to speak directly with neighbors in the community and highlighted how difficult it can be to receive SNAP benefits. Some neighbors experience the
“cliff effect”, where they earn barely above the maximum amount to qualify for assistance, but their income is not enough to sustain a healthy lifestyle.
I spoke with people who may be illiterate, disabled, experience a language barrier and are forced to make the decision between paying rent, medical bills, and putting food on the table.
This experience has demonstrated to me the significant barriers that prevent our neighbors from leading healthy lives. In many cases, the issue is not unemployment, but rather under
employment.
Gleaners have also recently partnered with Gennesaret, which is a free clinic in Indianapolis that provides dental and medical services to those in need. I was privileged to volunteer with
Gennesaret, which further illustrated the connection between food and medicine.
My main takeaway from the summer is that food insecurity cannot simply be solved by increasing the amount of food distributed. Inequitable access to nutritious foods continues to perpetuate health disparities in our communities and we must work to remove barriers to
access of resources to serve our communities. Overall, the experience has only further solidified my interest in pursuing a career in medicine.
I would highly recommend this internship to anyone seeking to learn about food insecurity and its role in public health disparities. I want to thank Jill Rogers and Dr. Wetzel for their support in finding amazing opportunities to learn about public health like this one. I would also like to
thank the Gleaners team, Mary Dubinin, Richard Gordon, Lindsey Riddick, and Sarah Wilson, for
facilitating my incredibly educational and impactful experience.
