As food insecurity affects more communities, K-State’s Hungry Heartland team is researching the causes and telling the stories behind them.
For rural communities like Dighton, Kansas, the fight against food insecurity begins with tragedy.
When Dighton’s only grocery store burned to the ground, the community refused to give up. Neighbors orchestrated grocery runs to nearby towns to save on gas and keep the community fed. Then a local community member opened a market on main street to sell fruits and vegetables a few times a week.
Framing the fight
A recent K-State graduate originally from Dighton, Io Schmalzried, told the story of the town’s resilience in hard times through a photo essay as part of the Hungry Heartland storytelling project.
The project educates about food insecurity while giving students opportunities to produce impactful multimedia stories.
“The Hungry Heartland project not only tells moving stories of solutions to food access issues but also helps students learn more deeply how these issues affect their neighbors, classmates and families in every corner of Kansas,” said Tom Hallaq, associate professor in the A.Q. Miller School of Media and Communication. “Students gain valuable, faculty-mentored experience as the stories and artwork they produce become catalysts to spark conversation and change in those communities.”
Growing impact
The Hungry Heartland project has inspired art exhibits, academic articles and even a Silver Telly Award-winning documentary directed by Hallaq and the late K-State professor, Ian Punnett. The video later aired on Topeka’s KTWU and can be seen here.
The documentary encourages people to share their stories about food access challenges and triumphs.
For more big news, Hungry Heartland recently received its second interdisciplinary research grant from the Chapman Center for Rural Studies.
Projects like Hungry Heartland prepare students for career success and to become caring community members ready to make a difference for those in need.
By Kate Ellwood
Curated from In the face of food insecurity, this K-State project tells stories of Kansans’ resilience