How often do you hear someone make an observation that something is broken in the world around us? It’s easy to share your opinions about fragmented systems with your friends under the guise of, “Just wanting to see a better future.” What separates the naysayers and bystanders from the doers is rather simple, it includes rolling up your sleeves, getting into the mess that you see and becoming a part of the solution. 

​I recently came across a beautiful quote,

Non profit organizations have as much to lose when business is interrupted as for profit businesses do and in many cases more to lose. Maintaining business continuity involves having the right knowledge base to understand risks and prepare your team to prevent those items that can be avoided as well as prevail in the event that something negative occurs that impacts the operational flow. A non profit can face losing membership, clientele and support, which can include grant dollars, funding sources, leased space, momentum and core team members in the event that business as usual is no longer feasible due to a disaster event such as water or fire damages.

While no entity can be prepared for everything, even in a non profit or mission based organization it is important to spend some administrative time to think through the potential risk exposure for your organization (read more on risk assessment and creative solutions HERE). A non profit may not have profits at stake which would be a critical concern for a traditional business, because of the nature of the work at the organization there may be even more at risk in these types of operations. Business continuity includes mission momentum, funding, community progress and team cohesion. People and organizations often don't have spare time so disaster preparation becomes an item that can be put off, unfortunately until an event happens that forces the parties involved to retroactively wish that they have made it a priority. 

Prevention is another agenda item that seems too time intensive to be of value in expending limited resources. Often many disasters could have been prevented by simple exploration of basic functions, risk assessments and changes to process improvements. An organization should leverage their resources to assist them in protecting their operational continuity, as noted in a prior article and presentation for property owners (see HERE on insurance claims education), make your insurance agent work for their money in reviewing your policy and assisting with risk management. If you have resources in your leadership, executive boards and even your volunteer base, include time for input as well as assistance in protecting your organization. 

The time and resources spent on education, risk assessment and prevention may not show up on the balance sheet, but when you consider what your organization does on a day to day basis for the benefit of the community, business continuity for your operation means more than just saving dollars. Consider what is at stake if your mission were to lose momentum, especially due to something that may have been preventable, and budget in time to invest in preparation and prevention so that you can continue to prevail. If you would like to discuss further how we can assist, we would love to help boost the knowledge of your team so that we can collaborate in prevention - and should the worst occur, we are here to assist with response. We have had the great privilege of helping churches, non profit organizations, educational facilities and mission based entities protect and restore their businesses following water, fire and other related disasters. 

How can we connect and collaborate to combat the trajectory of our communal nutritional defects?
  
In America we have a paradox of seemingly polar health issues where our population suffers simultaneously from obesity as well as food insecurity. According to the USDA the statistics used to note that one in six Americans suffer from hunger but in 2006 the wording was changed from hunger to a more scientifically explanatory term of food insecurity (Schulzke, 2012). While food assistance, often understood as food stamps or SNAP, is available the link between access to food is not always a clear connection towards elevating health in our communities through the distribution of these resources. Whether it confounds logic or not, those who are at highest risk for food insecurity – the poor or under privileged, can simultaneously be at high risk for obesity. What we want to explore is what are the potential causes for this dichotomy, for which we would ask readers to hold your assumptions for just a few moments, as well as what our communities may do to generate a better overall health for our neighbors as a healthy Lane County is of benefit to our social, communal and economic well-being. Making an impact in this arena of food insecurity which impacts children, generations and our society as a whole may be simpler than we think. Think connect, collaborate and combat.
 
If you took a survey of why people think that others are obese, what would the bulk of the answers be? Poor eating choices and habits would likely top the list of most informal surveys, regardless of whether there is research that supports this public perception. What about this headline, “Soft Drinks No. 1 Purchase by Food Stamp Recipients,” where CNS News relayed a report by the Food and Nutrition Service showing that over $350 million dollars were spent on soft drinks as a grocery selection that far surpassed any other food commodity (Jeffrey, 2016). The headline is catchy and would be a confirmation bias for anyone who would want to prove that those on government assistance are perpetually making poor choices with regards to health, as though to say it was their own fault and/or they reap what they sow. Yet, in this same article the study notes that purchasing patterns were similar between households receiving Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) funds and those that were not, so much so that, “The top two commodities were the same for SNAP and non-SNAP households.” The veil between those on assistance and those who are not receiving help from the government isn’t that thick, we share many of the same bad habits when it comes to our purchasing patterns, our meal planning and our utilization of healthy food resources. The first step to effective connection, collaboration and combat of this issue is to understand that we are connected whether we like it or not.
 
Households utilizing SNAP benefits, synonymous with food stamps, on average are taking in the same amount of calories as non-SNAP households, yet many of those homes receiving assistance are eating less nutritious (even if in some cases only marginally so). Individuals and families who do not receive government assistance for food don’t score remarkably higher than those on food stamps, as according to University of Connecticut researcher and author Tatiana Andreyeva, “The average American scored 58 out of 100 – a failing grade – on the Healthy Eating Index (Godoy, 2015).” Our habits are more similar between socio-economic classes than we may want to admit.  For many individuals and families, vegetables often are consumed in the form of delicious pizza toppings and the preferential preparation of starches is through deep frying. In the same study for the Healthy Eating Index the average food stamp recipient did score lower than non-SNAP individuals, but marginally so as their scores were 47-51 out of 100, a 7-9% variance between groups. If there is a common thread of low health scores between citizens who receive food assistance as well as those who do not receive these benefits, how can our communities work to elevate our overall knowledge and commitment to health? We understand that we are connected whether we like it or not, so to build upon that connection we need to recognize that everyone could benefit from understanding how to identify healthy options as well as how to prepare them in a way that is appealing.
 
Regardless of your economic status, if you were handed a beautiful eggplant would you know what it was as well as how to prepare it? For most people if a recipe has eggplant in the title or the ingredients list it would be an automatic swipe left to reject that meal. The fear of the unknown can be powerful, especially when it comes to food. There is a gap in the general knowledge base for how to meal plan as it relates to working within the budget you have available for groceries, whether this budget is supplemented by assistance programs or not. Meal planning can save time and money as well as contribute to health while reducing waste. It is estimated that as much as 25% of the food purchased in America is thrown away (Garrett, 2014). Think of how much effort goes into a family making it to the grocery store - making some kind of list, getting the kids in the vehicle, traveling to the store, making it through the store with all members of the family intact and in the same condition they arrived in, waiting in line, getting all the items and people back into the vehicle, returning home and putting everything away – only to throw away a quarter of the products that were procured during that expedition. Wasted time, money and resource, all of which we have an ever reducing supply of. Meal planning can help you plan your calories to achieve your nutrition goals, trim needless waste and save you money/resources that could be more effectively spent for personal or family financial goals. We know we are connected, we know we need to expand our food education and as we build upon that we need to strengthen our connection with resources that assist us to function within our means. There are resources available online to assist with planning as well as people or organizations within your community that can provide assistance for resource allocation as it relates to meeting your nutrition, health and financial goals, connect.