Food Insecurity

Nearly 70% of St. Louis homicides last year occurred in low-income areas with no access to a grocery store or supermarket for at least half a mile.

St. Louis-area food pantries are busy stocking shelves for this summer now that Missourians are receiving smaller unemployment checks.

An annual online crowdfunding campaign gives St. Louis nonprofits a boost. During the pandemic, fundraising is even more critical.

We wanted to share the stories of the people who are at the heart of the environmental justice movement: urban farmers. In St. Louis, urban farmers have made great strides and continue to educate the next generation about the importance of growing their own food. In this bonus episode, we visit an urban farm, then hear from a food justice director advocating for a healthier environment and the founder of a nonprofit that provides equitable access to food, education, and employment.

Many people in north St. Louis and north St. Louis County don't live near grocery stores. To help fill in the gap, the St. Louis Area Foodbank is bringing healthy food to those neighborhoods in a traveling fresh food pantry.

President-elect Joe Biden played it safe by choosing former Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to return to the post, but that isn't playing well with everyone.

It might seem that restaurant owners Joe Jovanovich and Mohammed Qadadeh have enough on their plates just keeping their eateries open. They run the Pat Connolly Tavern and American Falafel, respectively, and are busy finding innovative ways to operate and pay their employees during the challenging year that is 2020. Yet they’ve also stepped up to address food insecurity among their neighbors in the midst of all that — as have many of their peers in St. Louis’ vibrant, and hard-hit, restaurant industry.

A growing number of families across the St. Louis region are having trouble affording food, as many workers have lost jobs during the coronavirus pandemic. St. Louis area food banks and organizations are working to distributing more meals to meet the increased demand.

At Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Parish food pantry in Ferguson, volunteers have seen a 25% client increase in recent months, with Blessed Teresa serving about 1,300 people in October alone. That’s in keeping with what food banks and other partners are observing throughout the area, according to Operation Food Search’s director of strategic services, Lucinda Perry. She’s seen about a 40% increase in food insecurity rates amid COVID-19 upheaval. The St. Louis community is stepping up to help, including local farms such as EarthDance.

A growing community of Black farmers in St. Louis is working to feed residents in areas with few traditional grocery stores, but for some, the costs of getting started are a major hurdle. A small group of growers and food justice advocates is trying to ease the burden on these aspiring farmers by offering a lending “tool bank” in north city.