The following are two reflections from the engaged spring break experience of the half-credit CEL course “Food, Faith, and Justice”. The course explores the followng questions: why are people food insecure in Baltimore in 2024? How is the community responding (through direct service, grassroots organizing, policy, research, and advocacy)? How do we fit in? And how do we build hopeful, resilient. thoughtful communities of response?

To read reflections from more students, please click here.

Finding Solutions in Strength

Katie Schadler ’26, participant

The Food, Faith, and Justice 2024 cohort spent our first full day in Baltimore meeting the Black Church Food Security Network. Although it was a rainy day, we were immediately greeted by the smiling faces of Executive Assistant Brahein and Assistant Director Linneal who were both very excited to meet us and get to work. During introductions, we learned that the Black Church Food Security Network started in 2015 following the murder of Freddie Gray at the hands of police. During this time, communities in West Baltimore not only organized in protest against this act of police brutality and injustice but witnessed the expansion of food apartheid. With grocery stores; corner stores; and school districts that provided thousands of students with consistent meals shutting down, Baltimore residents did not have access to what little food was already available. Recognizing this need, current executive director Reverend Heber Brown III and other members of the church began contacting the Black farmers they knew, using the produce from the church’s garden, and delivering food to local neighbors by bus to help fill the massive holes that a history of structural racism intentionally worked to create. This is when the Black Church Food Security Network was founded: a grassroots organization by and for the people that “does not feed the needy but helps the hungry feed themselves.” 

One of the questions we have been exploring throughout this semester in our Food, Faith, and Justice course is “where do we fit into all of this?” What can we be doing to help the organizations who are already doing the meaningful work? So one of the tasks we had the privilege to help with today was organizing the storage room of the Black Church–what Reverend would later endearingly refer to as “sweat equity”–so community resources could be allocated more easily and efficiently. Given their small but mighty team, a lot of the heavy work falls on them to do both the direct action work along with the administrative and community outreach responsibilities by themselves. Thus, the work we did to help lighten this load felt both meaningful and at the same time, the least we could do. And plus, the work hardly felt like work being around good music and quality people. 

My favorite part of the day was getting to meet Reverend Brown and learning about his philosophies on community organizing. He commanded the room with so much enthusiasm and presence when he spoke that you could tell that the work he does with the Black Church comes from his soul. Reverend Brown talked about the importance of the behind-the-scenes work that is community organizing. To bring initiatives of similar work together instead of keeping ideas and resources exclusive. To enter a community not with the mindset of sticking to your own ideas about getting a project done but finding who is already doing the work and amplifying it. After an enriching Q & A about how the group can explore a balance of meeting community members where they are at in fulfilling their day-to-day realities first while also working against the broader structural issue of food apartheid, we had the opportunity to collaborate on some community outreach research to support other churches who are at the start of their own initiatives. 

Our day concluded with a reflection facilitated by Reverend Brown over some delicious fried chicken, mac and cheese, and collard greens. The day was filled with so much learning, love, and laughter (especially over Reverend Brown’s scallions), but one thing I won’t forget was the impact Reverend Brown and the inspiring student fellows of the Black Church Food Security Network left on me: As we continue to meet dedicated, passionate Baltimore leaders and organizers on this trip, it is important that we consider how the work of ending food apartheid continues once we’re back on the Bucknell campus and beyond. Being such an academically rigorous institution rooted in hustle culture, it becomes almost routine to get caught up in the learning that strictly happens in the classroom. One of the two most significant pieces of advice Reverend Brown left us with was to not think about college in terms of your academic major but your mission. If you ask yourself what you want your mission to be and try to align the rest of your life to that mission, you will not live your life doing what you think you are supposed to do or subscribed to do but what you believe to be absolutely necessary. 

The second piece of advice, and probably the most applicable advice for a group of students looking to push this movement forward, is to avoid starting with the problem. While this might seem counterintuitive given that most community-organizing classes suggest that we first ask what the problem is and how we can help, Reverend Brown invites us to begin not by asking a community “what’s wrong?” but by asking “what’s strong?” In exploring where the skill sets of a community already lie, the initiative is more likely to be empowered when led by a cohort of people who believe the strength and thus the solution lies with them. It is only day one out of a week-long trip and life-long journey, and I have already learned so much. So far, it has been a privilege to learn about and participate in meaningful work with some of my best friends, and it filled me today watching a room full of dedicated, beautifully distinct changemakers recognize the strength that too lies within all of us. 

Years and Small Steps

Da’Mirah Vinson ’26, TA

Today we had the chance to go on a tour of the city with Terris King II. He showed us a couple of places where his Temple X Forrest School works with various plots of land to either clean up trash, plant new trees or whatever the kids of the school imagine the land to look like. One of the locations that stood out the most to me was the urban forestry behind the Ashburton Elementary/Middle School. Terris and the students from the school have been working with the land for about 4 years and their main goal is to keep the forestry clean. The area suffers from a lot of litter because it is a usual dumping spot, people often walk through, and it is public property. What is frustrating about the land is that every time the school works to clean up the area, it is filled with trash again.

Terris also has an agreement with the city that if he can keep stewardship of the land for 5 years, he and the school will be able to own it. Touring the forests, and hearing how hard the kids and Terris work to keep it clean and consistent, made me think about how patience is key to community organizing and long term changes. The dedication to the urban forestry and all the other areas the school works with is remarkable. It reminds me that longevity and going back to start over is sometimes necessary to change. I often want and think of immediate change, but what I have learned from the past two days is that it takes years and small steps for sustainability.