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In one of its biggest moves to date, the Hometown Food Security Project initiative held a large-scale Hometown Food Security Community Work Session and Summit Wednesday morning at The Hormel Institute in order to take its next steps.

The purpose of the meeting was to further organize and begin forming action groups that will look at the many facets of food insecurity in Mower County.

Because of the oftentimes complex angles to the issue, the Hometown Food Security Project doesn’t aim specifically to fix the problem in the short term, but rather it seeks to find ways to address the issues with pointed efforts by smaller groups.

“While it’s important to know where we are, most importantly now is where are we going to go?” said Hormel Foods Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Snee in remarks to those gathered at the Institute. “What are we doing and it’s time to do more. You are all making that same commitment today.”

The base of the initiative has been bringing a number of groups and individuals together rather than different entities going in different directions to try and address the same issues.

During Thursday’s session, groups were formed and took the first steps toward the larger issue that is focusing on a sustained approach rather than bandages that will continue to need attention down the road.

It’s hoped that the sustained approach will allow for a more cohesive approach to the issue of food insecurity in the county as a whole.

“Food insecurity is a complex issue,” said United Way of Mower County Executive Director Molly Lanke. “No one business, organization, or individual can solve it alone. That’s why we’re all here today.”

A lengthy report — the Hunger and Food Insecurity Community Assessment Report — was also revealed Wednesday morning that takes a deep dive into the food insecurity issue and will act as a guide throughout the ongoing mission of the Hometown Food Security Project.

The report contains data and breakdowns as to the factors of food insecurity that will give people taking part in the initiative a better understanding of the problem they are facing.

“Food insecurity is not just about food,” Lanke said. “There are so many elements and that’s why we have so much diverse representation on the core team and diverse representation in the room today.”

“This work demands more,” she added.

The roots of the project stretches back to a summit first held to begin the process of what the Hometown Food Security Project was to look like. 

“It’s been about a year now since we had our food security summit,” Snee said. “Where we decided as a community to really think about and talk about food insecurity in a different way.”