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Hunger and food insecurity is a very real thing in the United States. Thirty-four million people, including 9 million children, are food insecure, according to the USDA. Households who do not have an adequate amount of food for every individual in the home suffers from food insecurity.
According to okfoodbank.org, Oklahoma ranks fourth in the nation for food insecurity. On Saturday, Feb. 24, Covanta and Goodr partnered together to help reduce food insecurity for families in West Tulsa.
More than 250 families were assisted at Eugene Field elementary school. Each family received one week’s supply of fresh groceries.
For the Greater Good[r]
Goodr, founded by Jasmine Crowe, is a Black-owned environmental tech company based out of Atlanta, Georgia.
According to their website, Goodr aims to end waste, fight hunger and feed families using the power of technology and logistics.
Goodr gives Tulsa families one less thing to worry about
In 2017, Crowe founded Goodr on those principles because she saw a necessity in her community to help people provide groceries for their families.
Abby Lee, Project Coordinator of Goodr, mentioned that Crowe started Goodr to help solve hunger. “She noticed communities, and even friends that she knew struggling with purchasing groceries,” Lee told The Black Wall Street Times. Partnering with organizations who experience an excess of food waste is vital to the success of Goodr.
“We also partner with a lot of companies, a lot of restaurants and campuses, anywhere where a surplus of food might be wasted, or in the trash. We take that, and compost it for them. The main thing is to divert food out of the landfills.” Lee added.
To participate in the grocery-store pop up, community members had to register ahead of time. Some people signed up for their own families and others signed up for family members who could not make it.
Joseph Sephiedlik, a West Tulsa resident expressed the significance and benefit of his family attending the event. “Right now, we’re going through some hard times, with the economy, everything is tight.” He continued, “We only have to worry about the basic essentials, when it comes to food right now. At least for a week.”
Tea Miller attended the pop-up event for her aunt, who was unable to attend due to physical restrictions. “’I’m here on behalf of my aunt, who recently had back surgery, who can’t come out and do this,” she told The Black Wall Street Times.
Miller added that the grocery pop-up market was necessary, and an advancement in the community, because food shortages are affecting all people, of all ages.
Ahead of the curve in waste management
Convata has played a key role in waste management since arriving in Tulsa in 1986. For nearly four decades they have provided environmentally friendly methods of disposing waste for companies throughout the United States.
They have also diverted over half a billion tons of waste from landfills, per their website. Similar to Goodr, Convanta’s foundation is built upon partnerships with organizations in the food and waste industry.
Convanta and Goodr worked together for four months to make the pop-up grocery market a reality for West Tulsans. Goodr supplied the groceries and Covanta outsourced the leftovers to organizations that provide food for families.
“We had already contracted and met up with another agency, a nonprofit from Tulsa. Irongate is a food pantry in the city of Tulsa that came and got all the additional food that was leftover.” Alyssa Wilds, Senior Manager of corporate relations with Convanta, told The Black Wall Street Times, “we made sure all the food stayed in the city of Tulsa.”
In addition to receiving groceries, children received a signed copy of published author Munson Steed’s self-care children’s book.
Steed stated, “It’s a wonderful thing for Covanta and Goodr to showcase capacity, that we have to feed the mind, the body and the soul of those who need it most.”