Deirdra Stockmann: Shared needs

Remember life before The Freshgrocer? I know, it was a difficult and dark time. As Penn students, we felt oppressed. Somehow we were expected to survive with only a perpetually under-stocked CVS and an inexcusably overpriced Campus Market -- oh, and dare I mention that black hole all the way down on 43rd Street?

Only the brave would venture that far to a grocer with a produce department so inadequate that a fruit and vegetable truck runs a successful business across the street.

While the frugal student hoped the unpredictable selection and the questionable cleanliness of Thriftway might be balanced by low prices, bargains were nowhere to be found. Yet, even good prices and great food would not likely lure most students so deep into West Philadelphia.

Once again, the Penn community was immersed in the realities of a major urban problem: the availability and affordability of fresh, healthy foods. Once again, the powers that be at Penn failed to acknowledge the breadth of the issue and consider its wider implications in devising a solution.

By focusing myopically on the immediate needs of Penn students, the opening of the new grocery store undermined an important connection to our surrounding community, wounding our ability to recognize the scope of the problem.

A solution that meets the demands of the smallest, least disadvantaged sub-community seldom penetrates to the core of the problem. In terms of Penn's relationship with the rest of the neighborhood, the opening of The Freshgrocer has given West Philadelphians another reason to be skeptical of the University's purported dedication to involving and improving the entire community.

The Urban Nutrition Initiative was started by a group of students and faculty who recognized the scope of the urban health crisis west of the Schuylkill. UNI sought to create community-wide solutions to the problem.

Like many urban neighborhoods, West Philadelphia is saturated with fast food restaurants, but sparsely populated with full-service supermarkets. In addition, fast food tends to be less expensive in terms of calories per dollar.

Given this low cost and high convenience, it is no surprise that french fries and TasteeKakes overwhelm fresh fruits and vegetables in many diets. High rates of obesity, heart disease and cancer have all been linked to these characteristics of consumption. Since this population tends to have very limited access to health care, the social and economic costs of its poor health are incurred by the entire society.

UNI's initiatives help to hedge the development of unhealthy habits before they become more serious social burdens. A fruit stand at Drew Elementary School provides healthy after-school snack alternatives. High school students learn about community supported agriculture and ecology by tending a community garden. A Farmers' Market provides neighborhood families with fresh, organic foods while supporting local, sustainable agriculture.

When seven year olds anxiously anticipate the chance to sell fruit, when fifth graders feast on a salad they picked fresh from the garden and when teenagers sell produce they grew in their school's backyard, it is clear that notions about community health are changing. The impact of UNI among students and families involved is difficult to measure, but it is limited only by the level of human energy dedicated to making change in their community.

By identifying problems and passionately taking the first innovative steps toward solutions, small, non-profit organizations are a critical component of social change and progress. But they must also be catalysts for more widespread awareness and action.

UNI is an important part of a real solution. We, as residents of West Philadelphia, are the rest of it. By working directly with existing programs, studying the effects of political and environmental factors on community health or simply supporting local community gardens, we can all help bring benefits of accessible, affordable, healthy food options to the entire area.

If smoothing out relations with our surrounding community is a serious priority at Penn, we must stop creating self-centered solutions that further alienate our neighbors. We must think about how the things we want to change for Penn students might also be problems other West Philadelphians struggle with.

Isolated solutions do not solve global problems. By uniting the economic and political resources that brought The Freshgrocer to Penn with the social vision that brings UNI to West Philadelphia we can create solutions that improve the lives of all members of our community.

Deirdra Stockmann is a senior Politics, Philosophy, and Economics major from Oak Park, Il.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.