SWAMPSCOTT — The Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lynn (UUCGL) in Swampscott is hosting a panel about food insecurity on Feb. 12. The event, “Innovation in Addressing Hunger — A Discussion About Advances in Food Security,” will have speakers Massachusetts State Senator Brendan Crighton (D-Lynn), Jason Etheridge, president at Lifebridge North Shore, Laura Spathanas from Anchor Food Pantry, and Norris Guscott the public health coordinator and health division and Food Security Task Force leader in Lynn.
Michael Celona, an organizer of the event and member of the Social Justice Ministry Team at UUCGL, said attendees should expect the leaders and decision makers speaking at the event to address food insecurity and “how we can all become supportive in that effort.”
“Getting involved in this issue is a real eye-opener as it touches upon so many others, including housing, jobs, race, class, immigration, etc,” Celona said as to why he became involved with the event.
UUCGL is active in regards to the issue of food insecurity, he said.
“We partner with St Stephens Episcopal Church in Lynn to support the operation of their food pantry, which has seen usage increase 2-3x since Covid. We organize meal making once-a-month for My Brothers Table, and have held food drives for Anchor Food Pantry in Swampscott,” Celona said.
Etheridge said he will be discussing the correlation between homelessness and food insecurity and what Lifebridge North Shore is doing to tackle that. Lifebridge “has been working to meet the most urgent needs of the homeless and under-housed on the North Shore of Massachusetts,” according to their website lifebridgenorthshore.org.
“What we do is community meals, and we do it across all of our locations. In other words, for example, here in Salem last year, we served over 100,000 meals to anyone and they were all pre-made ready to go meals,” Etheridge said.
Lifebridge has opened its efforts to everyone in the community, not just those who are homeless, he said.
“Food insecurity is becoming a huge issue in our country and you wouldn’t think so, you also want to look at the rising cost of food, right? And we’re actually seeing folks make a decision between paying their rent and going food shopping,” Etheridge said. “I’ll be talking a little bit about that and some of those difficult choices and how we’re trying to respond to that.”
Having discussions like the one happening on Feb. 12 with UUCGL is the first step to battling food insecurity, he said.
“Making sure that folks are educated about the need, coming together, convening such meetings,” Etheridge said. “It’s really about education, awareness. And any opportunity you see as a person in the community to repurpose food, you should think about it.”
To attend the panel, register through a google form which can be found under the event details at uucgl.org.
