Garrett's Blog

My Experience Volunteering at a Local Food Bank By Garrett Zhou As you may know, my blog is dedicated to addressing food insecurity. This past summer, I discovered an opportunity to volunteer at the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. Naturally, I seized this chance and volunteered several times, contributing approximately 10 hours of my time. I would like to share my experience with you and explain why you should consider volunteering as well. When you arrive at the food bank, you will check in and receive a name tag. Please note that if you are under the age of 16, you must have an adult or guardian with you at all times. After entering the work area, you will be introduced to a staff member, who will explain the tasks ahead. Some tasks are nice and clean. This may include organizing canned goods or preparing meals. However, some tasks are gross. These include sorting fruits and vegetables and any sort of cleaning. Before you do any sort of work, you’ll need to wash your...

Food Insecurity Crisis Spotlight: Ukraine By Garrett Zhou In a study conducted by researchers at Hamburg University, a bibliometric literature review was performed using an initial keyword search, which was subsequently refined. The researchers analyzed 631 peer-reviewed research papers from the Scopus database to obtain results that illustrate how conflict affects food insecurity. Additionally, ten case studies were included to enrich the research and provide specific insights into the situation in Ukraine. In this brief blog post, I will analyze the findings obtained by researchers regarding food insecurity during the Russia- Ukraine war. The paper examines the effects of the conflict on global supply chains, and I will paraphrase those findings for you here.  The war in Ukraine has been catastrophic, resulting in the deaths of over half a million people and profoundly impacting the lives of countless others. This situation allows us to examine the ramifications of this devastati...