by Mark McGowan
Dozens of NIU students, including nutrition and dietetics majors in the School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences will hit the pavement Sunday for a good cause: the CROP (Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty) walk against hunger.
And their professor expects they will receive excellent “on the walk” training in exchange for their shoe leather.
Amy Ozier, who teaches FCNS 406: Global Food and Nutrition Issues, says students from her class and those who are members of the Student Dietetic Association and NIU’s student chapter of Bread for the World will glimpse the clear connections between hunger and poverty.
“What they learn in the classroom is that, in order to ameliorate hunger and poverty, you have to work at the grassroots level. If they can help those who are hungry and poor in the community to find sustainable sources of food and clothing, it’s more likely those people are going to be able to provide for themselves,” Ozier says.
“One of our concepts is the obesity-hunger paradox which parallels food insecurity. There are individuals who are obese or overweight who are actually hungry at times. What we’re seeing, more so in the low-income populations, is that they’re getting low-quality food. It is challenging for parents to be good role models related to lifestyle behaviors when their own basic needs are not being met,” she adds. “They’re consuming low-nutrient dense foods; high-calorie foods; foods that appear to be the most economical. So it’s not just about calories in, calories out. It’s about poverty, and how that affects food choices.”
The CROP Walk was implemented in honor of the late Sondra King, a former professor in FCNS whom Ozier calls “an amazing humanitarian in the fight against hunger.”
Registration for the one- or four-mile Sondra King CROP Walk begins at 2 p.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 830 N. Annie Glidden Road, with step-off at 3 p.m.
Proceeds from this year’s walk will benefit DeKalb County agencies including food pantries, Meals on Wheels, Hope Haven and Safe Passage, as well as Church World Services and other international agencies that provide disaster relief and self-help development.
Some of Ozier’s students have advertised the walk across campus through posters and e-mail announcements. Others have held a small food drive in their classes. Another group will hold a bake sale from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14, in Wirtz Hall.
“But most importantly some of them are walking. The biggest thing we learn in class is that small changes make big differences,” she says. “The bottom line is that the students are helping the people of the DeKalb and Sycamore communities to live, and that makes them feel good.”
To learn more about CROP, visit www.churchworldservice.org. For more information about the local walk, contact Ozier at aozier@niu.edu or Martha O’Gorman at mogorman@niu.edu.