In this video I show children the supplies they’ll need to start seedlings in order to help increase families’ food security, even in urban settings. It’s not much, but for low income families’ saving just a few dollars can mean a lot. With more than 16.2 million children in the U.S. not receiving enough nutritious food, teaching families that they can grow lettuce, broccoli, strawberries, or other healthy foods, even in an apartment, could provide a fun family project while also benefiting their children’s health and their wallet!

This topic is important to me because I currently live in Syracuse’s 18th Ward where the average annal income is about $12,000 a year in in a city where 47% of children live below the poverty line. This means a disproportionate amount of my neighbors’ children are likely the 1 in 5 children that will go hungry at some point during the year. 

In addition I also live in a federally designated food desert, and thus it is difficult for myself, even with access to a vehicle, to get access to fresh fruit and vegetables. Having personally dealt with the reality of food insecurity I see the necessity for social justice and hope that some of those who’s lives could be affected by the ideas within this story find them, one way or another, and are able to make their lives just a little bit easier by growing a single seed.