AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers focus on improving client health

Feb05

(photo left to right: Hana Le, Lauren Bednarski, Stacy Katzman)

In efforts to identify the challenges Central Texans face to become food secure, the Capital Area Food Bank has actively participated in Feeding Texas’s Client Empowerment Corps, an innovative program focused on alleviating the upstream, economic causes of hunger as well as the downstream effects of hunger on health.

For the next year, three Food Bank AmeriCorp VISTAs will visit with Partner Agency clients to assess the needs of the community. Hana Le, Stacy Katzman and Lauren Bednarski will each focus on different issues to have a well-rounded understanding of the hardships Central Texans face in addition to hunger.

Hana Le will assess the gaps in health services in the community and make recommendations about health partnerships and programs the Food Bank should start in the future, such as a hospital food pantry, food insecurity screening and hospital and clinic referrals.

“These programs can help alleviate the pressure Partner Agencies feel about addressing Food Bank clients’ needs besides hunger,” said Le, an Austin native and psychology and law and society graduate from American University in Washington, DC.

Stacy Katzman is working to strengthen existing partnerships and increase Food Bank clients’ access to health and nutritional resources. Le and Katzman have been conducting a community assessment to gauge the most prevalent and pressing obstacles clients face in staying healthy.

“It is those candid conversations and surveys at our Partner Agencies that are? helping to drive the future recommendations we as VISTAs are going to make to the Capital Area Food Bank,” said Katzman, a sociology and hearing science State University of New York at Buffalo graduate. “I, specifically, am hoping to expand upon current relationships with some Partner Agencies by adding new programs that would be housed at their sites that address the high prevalence of chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension.”

Lauren Bednarski will further assess the financial stability of Food Bank clients.

“I am not only meeting with clients and community organizations focused on economic opportunity, but also speaking to Food Bank Partner Agencies to gain their unique perspective on client need as well as determine any capacity to expand and/or develop new programs focused on economic opportunity,” said Bednarski, an AmeriCorps Economic Opportunity Organizer VISTA.

With a better understanding of client needs, the Food Bank will be able to address hunger from different angles that help clients live a self-sustaining life.

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