Neighborhood Leaders Look to Combat Food Deserts

Elizabeth Williams understands food deserts -- not because of statistics or demographics, but because she lives it every day.
She says, "It's awful, so I am in a desert storm."
Members from local agencies met to discuss ways to combat a growing problem -- the food desert.  Much of downtown Chattanooga can be classified that way.
David Eichenthal, Community Research Council president explains, "These are all places where the number of food stores, the quality and type of produce available is more limited than the population who lives in those areas would expect or demand."
Williams agrees, "We have to walk or either get a bus all the way to the bi-lo and that's on central up there or we go just down the hill to the place, the big H and try to find something down there."
Often when she does find something, it's hardly part of a square meal. This is grocery shopping as she knows it.
"Maybe one day it will be a store across the street from me or something that neighborhood can enjoy instead of having to walk way to Bilo, there's a lot of elderly people. We need it, you know," she says hopefully.
If Williams wish for a grocery store in her Alton Park neighborhood were granted, it would mean a lot more than just fresh fruits and vegetables for her community.  It could have an economic ripple effect for her neighborhood.
Eichenthal points out, "We know that food stores, grocery stores, super markets can function as anchors for the economic and commercial revitalization of an area."
But Eichenthal says it isn't about money, it's about people like Elizabeth Williams that spurs today's quest for solutions.
Eichenthal says it isn't always a big city that fosters food deserts.
Rural counties, such as Rhea or Marion, could be classified that way too.