HSC Envisions The Road to a Healthier Future

July 14, 2009 | Written By: Rochelle Davis

By Rochelle Davis, HSC Founding Executive Director

Rochelle’s niece Julia, in Spain.

Over the Fourth of July holiday, I picked up my 25-year-old niece, Julia, from O’Hare airport. Julia has been in Spain for the
last 10 months teaching English as a second language. We drove her to her mom’s
house in Milwaukee so we had a couple of hours to hear about life in
Spain.

Julia had spent the month of June walking
El Camino, a famous Christian pilgrimage walk through Spain. Of
course, I was interested in how she ate while on the walk. She explained
that the trail went through many small towns and, in most of the towns, local
churches were set up to feed the pilgrims. She commented on how good the
food was, with lots of fresh and tasty fruits and vegetables for every
meal.  She told me that even in the city where she was living, most of the
food came from farmers in the area so that, even on a tight budget, she had lots
of access to fresh, healthy food. 

At the core of the work we do at Healthy Schools Campaign is
envisioning what is possible, not getting stuck in the “way things are” and
then figuring out the path from the way things are to how they should be. 
We envision a food system that can give everyone access to healthy and tasty fruits and
vegetables (and other products) and see a strong local food system as important to making this happen. It was so reassuring to know that this type of
system is alive and well in other parts of the world.