Field Guides to Food

Harry Baulisch: A Rural Food Shelf (Edited)

Rural areas experience many of the same food access issues as their urban counterparts such as transportation and food affordability.

How can we learn from this example? What do urban-rural relationships tell us about food access?


Harry Baulisch is the manager of the Mary and Martha Food Shelf in Westbrook, MN.  Mary and Martha is part of the Western Community Action Partnership, a group of food shelves that utilize volunteers to provide nutrition assistance to individuals and families using the “client choice” model.  People are able to select the foods that they and their families need and will use, increasing the usefulness of what is given to them. He talks about how he became involved in the food shelf and the need for food shelves in rural areas where access to food is limited. He also discusses the need for jobs in rural areas to lift people out of poverty.

Related Topics: Food Affordability,   Empowering Consumers

1.  (0:05) DEVELOPING THE FOODSHELF (5sec in full version)
 Small Town Access (0:24)**
 Community Meeting (1:21)
 Transportation Problems (1:31)
 Leading the program (2:14)
 Repurposed vacant building (3:55)

2. (5:15) MEETING THE NEEDS (7min23sec as well as 22min57sec in full version)
 Outreach and donors (5:35)
 Beyond food assistance (7:13) **
 Rural job difficulties (8:36)

3. (10:01) HUNGER AND POVERTY (14min2sec in full version)
 Cost of Living (10:28)
 People that do not qualify for assistance (11:41) 
 Seniors and Children (13:00)

7. (15:00) IMPROVING THE COMMUNITY (24min25sec as well as 57min40sec in full version) 
 Volunteering and Service (15:13)
 Declining Youth Service (16:17)
 Getting Children to Return to Rural Town (17:21) **
  Providing jobs for future (17:51) **

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