The nutrition problem in the homeless community
By Max Brenner, Junior, Spring Creek Academy
Food: it’s something that everyone needs, but that many of us take for granted. If you’re homeless, you may not even know where you will sleep tonight, let alone where your next meal will come from. When food is scarce and hard to find, you often have to take what you can get, regardless of how nutritious it is.
Homeless shelters, food pantries, and soup kitchens provide food for the homeless, but they often “don’t have a lot of control over the food that they eat,” said Kyla Rankin, a senior community development specialist with the HOMES program at Parkland Hospital.
Food items and budgets to buy them depend largely on donations, Rankin said, so what’s being served often lacks vital nutrients.
Adding to the problem is the fact that homeless people get their food from a variety of different sources.
“Some panhandle, and, sometimes, people come by and give you food,” said Austin, who lives on the streets of downtown Dallas. “There are different shelters, but you have to know the schedule for meals.” The struggle to find food often means that nutrition is not a primary concern. A 2002 article in the journal Nutrition Today cites a survey that found 77 percent of homeless people could not find fresh fruit and 32 percent could not find or store dairy.
The nutritional deficiencies that many homeless people experience can lead to issues with the immune and digestive systems and increase the chance of depression or anxiety, according to the journal Nursing Times. Rankin also sees extremely high levels of diabetes within the homeless community.
What can be done about these problems? One solution is to solve a different issue: finding homes for the homeless. “Once people have stable housing and support, they can be taught how to budget, how to make good choices at the grocery store, and how to create easy yet healthful meals,” said Amy Schmidt, a licensed clinical social worker and advocate for the “Housing First” movement.
Progress on this front has been slow. Dallas has considered ideas such as trying to “refurbish an existing building into an intermediate-term homeless assistance center,” said city councilperson Philip Kingston, but none have yet come to fruition. However, Kingston said that the city is still working on implementation of a four-part plan to aid the homeless.
Another way to increase access to healthy meals for the homeless is to increase the number of food pantries that can provide nutritionally valuable foods. Minnie’s Food Pantry in Plano, for instance, utilizes a walk-in freezer to keep vegetables, fruits, and meats such as chicken and pork fresh.
“We’re one of the only food pantries that can offer meat and produce,” said Lynette Wellington, director of Minnie’s. Although homeless people may not always have a place to store these items long-term, they can still pick up the food and use it that same day. Locals can get involved by volunteering or donating food or money. “It’s all equally good,” Wellington said.
Education and experience are also vital to improve the nutritional situation, said Rankin.
“We tend to eat what we know, what we grew up with,” she said. But work must be done to expose homeless people to different foods and teach them that “you can make healthy choices at the convenience store or the dollar store.”
Want to get involved? Connect with one of these organizations:
