Elevator Pitch – Lack of Access to Food (Food Security)

This article discusses the issue of food insecurity in Edmonton, Alberta, particularly among low-income families, students, and members of the North African community. It proposes the establishment of a community food center in the city outskirts to provide affordable and nutritious meals for those in need. The article also invites readers to contribute to the establishment of the food center.

Running head: Elevator Pitch – Lack of Access to Food (Food Security)
Elevator Pitch – Lack of Access to Food (Food Security)
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ELEVATOR PITCH – LACK OF ACCESS TO FOOD (FOOD SECURITY)
Did you know that the right to food is a basic human right? Yet did you also know that the
average low-income family in the city of Edmonton in Alberta lacks the resources needed to
have five healthy and full square meals in a day? More than fifty percent of the resident
population in Edmonton does not have the means to obtain the desired daily servings of
nutritious foods like fruits and vegetables. Seventy eight percent of the children who belong
to poor or low-income families in Edmonton do not even have sufficient access to milk and
milk related products (Vueweekly.com 2018). Alberta is one of the most prosperous states in
Canada but fares poorly in the area of food security, and while Edmonton is a city where
most of the people earn well, more than twenty percent of its population is seen to make less
than fifteen dollars in an hour. They thus have to struggle continuously in order to bring food
to the table for themselves and their dependents. The rate of food insecurity is particularly
high among members of the North African community in Edmonton including those who
belong to Eritrean, Sudanese and Somali families. Many of these people arrived in the
country as asylum seekers, fleeing persecution in their countries of origin and thus do not
have the support of community and familial structures that is required to ensure that they are
not denied their basic right to food (Wakefield 2018). Food insecurity tends to be hugely
prevalent among the student population in Edmonton as well. According to research carried
out on students at the University of Alberta in 2013 it was discovered that food insecurity is
largely present among the student customers of the University Campus Food Bank. While
these students were seen to make use of a wide range of coping strategies to enhance their
income levels, they were in dire need of other effective strategies that would have helped in
eradicating the feeling of food insecurity among them (Farahbakhsh et.al 2015). Having
worked in the non-profit sector for more than ten years, and with a passion for cooking
nutritious but delicious meals, I feel the time is ripe to open a community food centre in
Edmonton. I believe such a food centre will play an invaluable role in addressing the food

2ELEVATOR PITCH – LACK OF ACCESS TO FOOD (FOOD SECURITY)
insecurities of the young and the old, particularly those living in social isolation and in
poverty (CBC 2018). Since most of the services that are centered around food security in
Edmonton are provided in the heart of the city, I’d like to open my food centre somewhere in
the city outskirts. By doing so, I will be able to make affordably priced nutritious meals easily
accessible for low-income families living on the fringes of Edmonton and who often may not
have the means to make their way all the way to the city centre to get the healthy and
economically priced food that they deserve. Would you be willing to contribute towards the
establishment of such a community food centre? With the help of a substantive financial
contribution I can immediately recruit the helping hands that I require to get such a food
centre up and running, thus ensuring the timely and quick provision of hot and nutritious
meals for the poor and the destitute in Edmonton.

3ELEVATOR PITCH – LACK OF ACCESS TO FOOD (FOOD SECURITY)
References
CBC. (2018). Edmonton non-profit looks to open food centre in city's west end | CBC News.
[online] Available at: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-west-community-
food-centre-poverty-1.4436412 [Accessed 18 Jun. 2018].
Farahbakhsh, J., Ball, G.D., Farmer, A.P., Maximova, K., Hanbazaza, M. and Willows, N.D.,
2015. How do student clients of a university-based food bank cope with food
insecurity?. Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research, 76(4), pp.200-203.
Vueweekly.com. (2018). Edmonton’s hunger pangs | Vue Weekly. [online] Available at:
http://www.vueweekly.com/edmontons_hunger_pangs/ [Accessed 18 Jun. 2018].
Wakefield, J. (2018). Program aims to tackle high rates of food insecurity in African
community in Edmonton. [online] Edmonton Journal. Available at:
http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/program-aims-to-tackle-high-rates-of-food-
insecurity-in-african-community [Accessed 18 Jun. 2018].