In Lucas County alone, 58,160 or 13.5 percent of people are food insecure, according to data collected by United Way of Greater Toledo.

The United Way Food Summit, in conjunction with the University of Toledo Medical Center, is working to form not only a conversation around this issue, but also solutions.

This discussion takes place on Nov. 17 at the University of Toledo Medical Center, Collier Building, 1150 E. Medical Loop, Toledo, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

This first-time event invites community members, business owners, elected officials, and more to connect with like-minded members of the community to discuss ongoing food security research.

There will be interactive sessions, workshops, and informative panels.

Ari Weinzweig, the event’s keynote speaker, will talk about the idea of organizational ecosystems, and how these can be everything from the one in our head, to the community, to each organization, and even nationally speaking.

“The idea that one of us will do well, but no one else will is not healthy, and it’s not sustainable,” said Mr. Weinzweig, co-owner of Zingerman’s Community of Businesses in Ann Arbor, Mich. “If all the resources are unequally distributed, it’s not going to be helpful.”

Over the past 10 years, Mr. Weinzweig said he has been working on a metaphor that he will be presenting at the summit. This visual is intended to reflect the way healthy organizations are meant to operate.

“We think in metaphors all the time,” he added. “We often say things that, intentionally or not, have implications.

“Hope is the sun and generosity is the water,” he explained. “When hope and generosity come together, you get a rainbow.”

It’s about long term health, rather than short term gain, the keynote speaker shared. He hopes that this metaphor will give people a different way to think about their ecosystems — whether that’s their families, jobs, kids’ schools, church, or other communities.

“A lot of times people think of their brain as a computer, and if we were a computer, we can pop out software and change it, and we’re done,” Mr. Weinzweig explained. “It doesn't work like that, of course change takes time.”

What’s hopeful about this model is that each piece works together, he said. The visual gives people tools to align with nature, leading to more effective results over time.

The vision process, as Mr. Weinzweig described it, is what we as humans create in the ecosystem.

“Belief is the root system,” he continued, “and it’s not hard to understand that if you have negative beliefs, weeds will grow.”

Community engagement

The community engagement piece of the summit is huge, said Jill Bunge, vice president of impact and outreach at United Way of Greater Toledo.

“We know a conversation needs to happen, and action needs to happen behind that,” she said. “We know some of the baseline solutions to remediate some of these challenges in our community. But, we need to address these challenges together to meet the needs of specific sub-populations.”

Food security will look different for different people, Ms. Bunge acknowledged. The summit is meant to serve as an invitation for these various groups in the community to share their own experiences — whether that’s through volunteering, personal food security challenges, or other community efforts.

“Side conversations are already happening; we’re under no illusion that there is not already great work being done,” she noted. “We want to put bones around [this work] and invite people to the table to put these action plans in place, to muscle up funding, and add excitement around this, showing that people are eager to invest.”

Different partners are needed to achieve food security, said Wendy Pestrue, president and CEO of United Way of Greater Toledo.

“The accountability is shared within the community,” she said. “This [summit] is an opportunity for individuals to wrap their heads around their role in this space. A chance for the community to see how we can get healthy foods in peoples’ hands.”

The return of the Food Equity Council, that formerly took place between 2011 to 2017, is one way event leaders are advocating for food security.

“We really see this council as a body that can center this work in a more positive manner,” Ms. Bunge said.

The 2023 Farm Bill is another piece that will be touched on at the event, said Ryan Bunch, senior director of outreach and advancement at United Way of Greater Toledo.

“The Farm Bill is the largest federal funding program for food access and assistance in the country,” he explained. “The threat of that delay in funding, as we are seeing [food] costs going up due to inflation, makes [pantry] shelves that much harder to stock.”

Mr. Bunch stressed that 77,000 people in Northwest Ohio are food insecure.

“During economically challenging times, donations go down as needs go up,” he continued. “You end up with this uneven, teeter-totter balance.”

Mr. Bunch said lack of food access has everything from long-term health, mental health, and education, to crime rates.

“It’s a pretty daunting thing in a community where employees are out of work, or even facing a strike,” Ms. Pestrue said. “It’s a critical time to have this discussion.”

First Published October 25, 2023, 11:09 a.m.