just one week until thanksgivin and it's hard to think
that millions of people in this country struggle on a
regular basis to feed themselves and their families.
Newsy National correspondent, Lauren Magarino joins
us from Chicago to explain how sometimes it's just a
matter of getting the food to the people who need it.
Hello, Lauren, Hi Natalie, you really put it
perfectly here, you know, because the issue, generally
speaking, isn't a lack or shortage of food. The issue
stems from how food is distributed. So I spoke with th
mutual aid group in Chicago that's working to fill gaps
where food is hard to find food cooked with love just
tastes better. We're making some turkey meatloaf since
um mashed potatoes and some greens from the farm today
is really comforting food. It's an experienced chef,
fresh Robertson wants to share with her community, you
know, like how you feel when Your grandma, your auntie
or your mom or someone cooks food for you, Robertson i
cooking 60 meals for love fridges embedded in
neighborhoods across Chicago. So you're probably
wondering what does a love fridge even look like Well,
I'll show you right now, this is one love fridge in the
neighborhood of Englewood and you can see that it's
completely painted, This was done by a local artists
and all of the love fridges will have some sort of
artwork on it. It's very community based and the
premise is very simple, Take what you need and give
what you can, that's it aimed at tackling food
insecurity, community members d most of the food
in these fridges, but Jeff Robertson's meals are part
of a monthly initiative called Full circle where the
Loveridge pays local chefs and restaurants to cook
nutritious meals for the fridge is when the pandemic
hit all of my regular gigs, got canceled. All the
things I normally cook for, got canceled. It's really
nice to like be able to cook for community and have
that be kind of a paid opportunity. So volunteers
distribute those meals. People need help. People need
help and I figure I'm like, I'm able bodied, I'm
capable have a vehicle. The question isn't, why should
I is why shouldn't I More than 13 million US househo
around 35 million americans experienced food inse
Sometime in 2020 according to the USDA people were
waiting like, especially in the middle of the pandemic.
People were waiting at the fridges To grab their milk,
you know, their cheese or eggs, like those fridges get
cleaned out immediately. Community Fridges got their
start in Germany in 2012 and grew globally, their
popularity exploded over the pandemic with more than
200 spanning the us from Seattle to Nashville. It made
me feel really good and like I know it's like a nice
thing to do to Albany new york every day people come,
that's why it's very empty all the time. People always
coming through here picking up getting food. They've
revealed there's plenty of food to go around, but it's
a problem of distribution and the food just not being
properly distributed, you know, and anchored in the
communities that need access to food. These communities
are typically home to black and hispanic families who
have seen chain stores close back when Dominic's made a
kind of mad dash out of out of Chicago, out of Illinois
Um we had a grocery store and so we hadn't had it
filled for maybe seven or eight years in our
neighborhood and so it finally came back like right
before the pandemic hit, leaving community members with
the task of filling the gaps for an essential need
Natalie. I just have to start off by telling you it
smelled so good in that kitchen when I was just
watching them cook these meals, it was incredible. But
I wanted to give you a few more details on chef fresh
Robertson actually, because thi is somebody who has
really stepped up to help her community. Not only does
she make these meals for the full circle initiative
that goes into these fridges, but she's actually a
farmer first, she's always grow a lot of the produce
that she's cooked with. She used some of the produce
actually for this meal and she has a garden in her
front yard that anybody can help themselves in harvest
if they'd like in her community And on top of that she
even volunteered to have a fridge put right in front of
her property because of course it has to connect to
some, you know, electric source and you know, we'll
harvest that food and put it in the fridge as well. So
really it's, it's this full circle opportunity to not
only grow food here in Chicago, but also cook these
meals for these people and she interacts with the
people that come to the fridge every day. So that was
pretty cool. Tidbit. What doesn't she do How wonderful
is that community gardens where you can do a healthy
grab and go or such a good idea and she takes it even
farther. That's wonderful. And it's clear there's
plenty of food to go around. Lawrence how much of it
sometimes gets wasted. Yeah, I mean it does get wasted.
It's not even just sometimes. And I answer this
question with numbers. So bear with me. I know it's
easier. Eyes glaze over. But just on this upcoming
thanksgiving alone re fed, which is a national
nonprofit that tackles this issue, estimates more than
150,000 tons of food will go to waste. And I did the
math because I'm a visual person That's the equiva
of more than 1000 blue whales on one day. I could not
believe, you know, just how massive this issue can
become and you talk annually in 2019, of food in the
states was either uneaten or unsold and that was $408
billion dollars worth of food Natalie. So you know, it
really is a big issue, and I will add that the pandemic
has caused some food shortages in certain areas, but
that's not because there's little food. It's again a
supply chain or distribution issue.