By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN

Michigan Correspondent

CASS CITY, Mich. — Addy Battel is “Meating the Need for Our Village” through a program she and a team of fellow Huron County 4-Hers designed to combat food insecurity.

At age 12, the now 16-year-old helped start the program after her hometown of Cass City became a food desert – defined by USDA as neighborhoods that lack access to healthy food sources – when the community’s only grocery store closed.

“At the time, we were new FFA members looking for projects. We found there was a grant available that required us to do some research about needs in our community. Through our research, we found that 15 percent of the population in Cass City was food-insecure,” she said.

“We sort of fell into the world of hunger-fighting; that statistic really struck us.”

Recognizing the need for higher-quality foods for those who are food-insecure (without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food), the students secured grants and contributions from the community and began providing high-quality protein to local food pantries.

Battel said once the initial grant was secured the 4-H members began raising chickens at their homes and eventually donated the meat to local food pantries.

“From there, it sort of became a loaves-and-fishes story,” she said. “We reached out to local service clubs to ask for money to be able to have a larger impact. We ended up doubling the first $2,500 within the first year.

“We’ve seen that every time we do something that is beneficial for our community, our community turns right back around to support us. That is how we have been able to make a $56,000 impact in the community through 10,000 pounds of meat, 700 gallons of milk, and about 175,000 eggs donated to food pantries in the area. We have 470 youths involved.”

Although it’s difficult to determine the number of people affected by the project to date, Battel said one of the food pantry coordinators has told them she has not had to buy any meat since a few months after beginning working with “Meating the Need for Our Village.”

Battel credits teamwork for the project’s growth and success. She and her friend, Pearl Daskam, are two of the original members who started the project five years ago and they remain involved today, with about 10 other members who are directly involved in the operation of the project.

She continues to do much work coordinating efforts and partnerships with volunteers, such as a school farm where chickens are raised for meat and eggs. She also works on marketing and promotional activities and often speaks to organizations and other groups to create awareness about the project, and she and her siblings raise animals to support the cause.

Other activities Battel enjoys are sharing the group’s story and working with the three local food pantries served by the project.

“It is very morally rewarding to go to a distribution and to see the impact this project is having,” she explained. “At one distribution, I remember the look of relief that washed across one dad’s face when he opened his bag and saw the meat.

“One of our goals through this project is youth involvement through raising animals. It’s the idea that if they realize they can make this impact in their community by taking care of an animal now, hopefully they can make that connection between what they’re doing now and the impact they can have on the world.

“It’s rewarding for me to see the impact this is having on the kids who are raising the animals, and for them to know the difference they are making right here in their own community,” she added. “I’ve seen kids as young as 9 years old see that this impact is real.”

She noted that often buyers at the 4-H fair will purchase animals to support 4-Hers and then donate the animals to “Meating the Need for Our Village.”

Looking to the future, Battel said one of her goals is to continue to build a framework to leave the effort in good hands as she transitions from high school to college in a couple years.

In April, they held the first Cass City Hunger Summit to bring together people from all backgrounds and interests to talk about food insecurity in their community. Through the summit, a group of volunteers is now working on gaining nonprofit status.

“We got people in Cass City really thinking about this and really motivated to make changes in Cass City for the future,” Battel noted. In addition, she said the development of a board of directors is being explored, to provide leadership for the project.

For her work, she recently was named the winner of the 2019 4-H Youth in Action Pillar Award for Agriculture. She received a $5,000 scholarship for higher education and will serve as an advocate and spokesperson for 4-H agriculture programming this year.

The 4-H Youth in Action Awards, sponsored in part by Bayer, began in 2010 to recognize those who have used the knowledge they gained in 4-H to create a lasting impact in their community. Battel is only the second Michigan 4-Her to be honored with this award.