I'm involved with a local chapter of Organizing for America that -- like hundreds of others -- is doing a service project this coming weekend while gathering support for health care reform that includes a public option.
If you live in the Kansas City area, you can help. Details on the flip. (I cut and pasted our press release; feel free to copy the format for your own event.)
Fresh Food Drive Spotlights Link Between Healthcare, Nutrition
Event at Overland Park Farmer’s Market seeks produce donations
Volunteers will collect donations of fresh fruits and vegetables for the poor and hungry Saturday June 27 from 7 a.m. to noon at the Overland Park Farmer’s Market, between 79th & 80th Streets at Marty in downtown Overland Park.
Food donations will be brought that afternoon to the food pantry at Village Presbyterian Church for distribution. Donation boxes will be set up at the front and rear entrances to Ten Thousand Villages, 7947 Santa Fe Dr., adjacent to the market.
Kathy Cook of Shawnee, one of the organizers of the event, said it is intended to spotlight the important connection between good nutrition and good health.
“We need to reduce costs as part of the effort to reform health care, and focusing on prevention will be a vital component of cost control. Poor nutrition contributes to a host of health problems, including heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes,” Cook said. “So often, the poor are forced to subsist on cheap, highly processed food, and while that prevents starvation, lacking fresh fruits and vegetables sets up a host of health problems later in life for people who, under the current system, go without care because they are uninsured.”
The event is being organized by Shawnee members of Organizing for America, a grassroots group advocating health care reform that puts patients first. The group is stressing the need for both food relief and health care reform in Johnson County, a community generally perceived as well-off and comfortable but with a surprisingly high level of need.
“Over the past five years, requests for help with food and other basic survival needs in Johnson County have increased 150 percent, according to United Community Services. They also estimate that more than 40,000 Johnson County residents lack health insurance,” Cook said. “This is a national problem that needs a national solution that benefits everyone, but we want to make Johnson County residents aware that they have a stake in this debate, too. Most people never expect to become a hunger or healthcare statistic, until it happens to them.”
Volunteers from Organizing for America will be collecting signatures on petitions, as well as fresh fruits and vegetables. The petitions are designed to demonstrate support for three essential pillars of any health care reform plan. The group believes health care reform must:
• Reduce costs — Rising health care costs are crushing the budgets of governments, businesses, individuals, and families, and they must be brought under control
• Guarantee choice — Every American must have the freedom to choose their plan and doctor – including the choice of a public insurance option
• Ensure quality care for all — All Americans must have quality and affordable health care