PublicSource in partnership with 90.5 WESA is producing a series on food access and policy in the Pittsburgh region.

After school, 16-year-old Maleeke Reid works at a community gardening program in Homewood. He gets paid $5 per day for tending the vegetable gardens and attending classes, where he and his friends sometimes joke about being fed “vegan food.”
On payday, he and two friends from the Junior Green Corps look forward to heading across the street to Shuman’s All in One, a convenience store and restaurant. There, Maleeke typically orders a cheesesteak hoagie with fries slathered in cheese, and then the boys head for home.
“Nobody throws snowballs no more. You been noticing that through the years?” Maleeke’s friend, Davon Reynolds Jr., asked wistfully one day after the program. “They talk about it but they don’t throw them. It’s like the snow is boring now.”
The boys’ conversation continued as they avoided the gaze of the people who they say have already started drinking and will still be on the street late at night.
READ ENTIRE ARTICLE AT:
https://www.publicsource.org/one-pittsburgh-students-relationship-to-food-illustrates-what-healthier-school-lunches-can-do-for-kids/