What does it mean to have affordable healthy food access? For three Nashville neighborhoods (North Nashville/Charlotte Ave., East Nashville/Cayce Place, Edgehill), it usually means finding a ride (via family, friends, neighbors, taxi or bus) to the grocery store.
While that is typically a process in and of itself. Many Nashvillians have experienced an inability to access resources this week due to devastating flooding which destroyed homes, belongings, and lives. Everyone has been touched in some way, be it by water damage, loss of life, loss of property, loss of business, or loss of transportation. There were reports early on that the poorest neighborhoods were not receiving as much aid from rescuers as wealthier parts of the city; FEMA assistance is now available in one such neighborhood.
This natural disaster begs the question, though: how would you feed your family if you couldn't walk to the store, couldn't drive? Would you ask someone for a ride? Would you take the bus? What would you be able to carry home if that were the case? Would you purchase the gallon of milk or eggs or bruisable fruit if you had to carry it home? Or if it weren't a 5-10 minute drive home? What about if temperatures were in the 80s and humid? Would your perishables last until you got them into the fridge or freezer?
Nashville's flooded neighborhoods will recover. FEMA will help so many families who lost everything, and never thought they'd need flood insurance. Businesses are opening up again day by day. Neighbors and strangers are coming together to gut and rebuild, to inventory for insurance and feed exhausted families, to watch the kids and reunite pets with owners.
In trying times, we come together to ensure a healthy community, to lift each other up from hardship, to share what we have, and to smooth out the rough edges of a difficult situation.
We cannot forget that there are neighborhoods in Nashville that do not have access to fruits and vegetables, lean meats, lowfat dairy, or any other grocery items, for that matter, with or without a natural disaster. Where you cannot go to the grocery store...for bottled water, hand sanitizer, paper plates, rubber gloves or any of the other items recommended for water conservation and clean-up.
As the floodwaters recede and the mud-caked streets return to usability, please make note of what else is missing from our communities: equity.