The Purpose Behind the Bishops Storehouse

Pallets of food are stocked on steel shelves in simple rotation to ensure product freshness

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints new 570,391 square-foot welfare facility will help respond to disasters and care for those in need.

The Bishops' Central Storehouse, located on 5405 West 300 South in Salt Lake City, Utah stores food and supplies that are distributed to central storehouses in five other regions of the United States and Canada.

Rows of food and provisions fill the storehouse, which is comprised of a bulk storage area, a rack storage area and 63,000 square feet of freezer and cooler space. Supplies are specifically stacked and a rotating system is used to ensure and maintain freshness.

One of the unique features of the new storehouse is that it was constructed to meet seismic guidelines and is capable of withstanding a 7.0 earthquake. It was designed to stay in operation during a disaster of that magnitude to ensure that help is available to the community.

The facility also houses Deseret Transportation — with 43 tractors, 98 trailers and 44 loading docks products and necessities are easily moved to wherever they are needed. The fleet logs about 3.7 million miles per year delivering goods to some 110 church storehouses across the United States and Canada and maintains a topnotch safety record.

Because of the way the storehouse is organized and operated, supplies are capable of being distributed to those in need at a moments notice. This was evident in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina struck the southern United States. Emergency supplies were on site within 24 hours and over 400 semi-trucks with food, water and other essential supplies were dispatched to the disaster zone over the following weeks.

The employees and missionaries who keep the storehouse clean, stocked and ready to deliver food and supplies don’t see their roles as just workers. Bishop Jones of the 13^th ward said, “They possess an enthusiasm for what they do because of their passion to serve.”

While the Church’s welfare program is designed to help those in need on a temporary basis the main goal is to teach people to become independent and teach them how to provide for themselves.  

Soup gets Social

Soup gets Social

Student gardener Bradley DeHerrera and Adjunct Professor Jack Hamilton dish up a cup of gazpacho at the first Social Soup event of the fall 2012 semester.

Free soup draws hungry crowd

In the first of three "Social Soup Lectures" students, faculty and staff filled the Gould Auditorium September 4, 2012 and enjoyed fresh gazpacho, a short informative video, lecture, (including a question and answer period) and a demonstration on making peach cobbler.

The theme of this Social Soup Lecture was: "Body and Mind: Healthy Eating for the New School Year." The event certainly lived up to its goal of providing "a monthly reflection on the social, economic and environmental issues surrounding food."

Once inside the auditorium attendees were greeted by Jennifer Nozawa, the PR Specialist for the College of Social Work who was surrounded by planters filled with live radish greens. A planter of greens were given away to anyone that wanted one.

Jennifer Nozawa greets attendees with a smile and a gift.



After a video, Jean Zancanella MS, an assistant professor of nutrition talked about food and eating well on a budget. Among other things, Zancanella recommended cooking extra portions and freezing them for eating later, replacing meat at least once a week with legumes and buying and eating fresh foods from farmers markets.

"One of the dietary or nutritional guidelines nutritionists really like to promote is to eat a rainbow everyday. Eating a lot of different colored fruits and vegetables is a great way to ensure that you're going to get a lot of the nutrients you need" Zancanella concluded.

Jean Zancanella

After Zancanella's remarks and a lively question and answer period Chef Matthew Seare from the Heritage Center showed us how to make a simple peach cobbler. After the demo Seare served his cobbler to the hungry group. Delicious!

The second Social Soup Lecture will be Tuesday October 23, 2012. From their website: "Food Day: Stories from Utah’s Real Food Movement – Social Soup will host a panel of inspired local individuals who are working to help make real food accessible to all, especially under served members of our community such as refugees, at-risk youth, students, seniors, the homeless and food-insecure. Panelists will share their stories of putting ideas into action as they start and build new programs and projects in the Salt Lake Valley."

Chef Seare dishes peach cobbler to Jennifer Nozawa



Facing the Challenge: An Opportunity to Assess America's Hunger Issues

The University of Utah’s Food Stamp Challenge kicks off this November, giving students and other participants a chance to get up close and personal with the food that they buy and consume on a regular basis. Begun in 2011 in conjunction with the Social Soup lecture series, this will be the University’s second go around with the Food Stamp Challenge, after a successful initial event.  

But what exactly is a “food stamp challenge” and what do those putting on the event hope that participants will gain from the experience?

We all make food choices everyday.

Food stamp challenges are a national trend, usually staged by religious or social organizations, that encourage participants to take a week or longer to eat only on the average amount a recipient would receive if they were receiving federal food stamps.  In 2012, that comes out to about $4 a day.  The goal for most groups who promote food stamp challenges is to encourage participants to think not only about their nutritional and financial association with their food, but also about the greater social issues surrounding the challenges that low-income Americans face in their struggle to eat healthily.  Food stamp challenges have recently been undertaken by a wide range of citizens, including a group of Washington D.C. district leaders.

According to Kathleen Hunt, Sustainability Coordinator for University Dining Services, “the Food Stamp Challenge is a way for people to experience the average food stamp budget for themselves and to think about their relationship to the food they eat—what they can or can’t afford, what they enjoy about eating, where they can or can’t shop, etc.”  In her view, it is an opportunity to step into another’s shoes and experience this aspect of life from a different perspective.  She believes that many people make a lot of assumptions and judgments about those who receive federal assistance and that “the Food Stamp Challenge questions a lot of those assumptions, and helps us all think about where we stand not just on policy issues but also in terms of our relationship to the food system.”

It’s a sentiment that is echoed by Marti Woolford, Outreach Coordinator for Utahns Against Hunger (UAH), a policy and advocacy organization that focuses much of its effort on raising awareness of hunger issues in Utah, and which is working with the University to stage this year’s Food Stamp Challenge.  Woolford has seen her fair share of opposition to the food stamp program from citizens in the traditionally conservative Utah and, in her opinion, many of those citizens have a misunderstanding of the program and its recipients.  “The majority of people who are on food stamps are people who are working more than one job just to get by,” she said, pointing out that, according to a recent study, fraud in the food stamp program is present in less than one percent of cases.

Woolford hopes that participants in the Food Stamp Challenge will have a greater understanding of what life is like for those who live on a food stamp budget on a regular basis.  “It’s very difficult to survive on food stamps,” she said.  “For me personally, when people say it’s just lazy people who are on food stamps, [Food Stamp Challenge participants] can say, you know, I did that for a week and it was not easy.  It’s not a lazy person who gets by living in poverty.  It’s a hard life.”  

University students can take up the challenge for themselves and draw their own conclusions this November and then discuss their experience at Social Soup on November 13.

Get to Social Soup

University of Utah is always hosting amazing events for its students, from football games to lectures from world famous scholars. One of which is the popular, informative and tasty Social Soup, a monthly lecture featuring food grown and prepared right on campus.

Students enjoying a cooking demonstration at Social Soup

“I thought social soup was pretty good,” said Jason Nowa, a communications major who attended September’s Social Soup. “It was pretty informative about food and health aspects and what you take into your body, plus there was free food and that was really fun.”

September’s event, the first in a series this semester, began with a video featuring Jamie Oliver, a popular advocate for fresh food and eating right. The film stirred the crowd into thinking about how they can eat better and with more variety.

“I expected it to be informational,” said Lindey Wilbur, a student who attended the lecture.  “But what I didn’t expect was how much fun it was going to be.”

The discussion on different ways students can think about eating wisely on a modest budget and with little time. Students and faculty participated in the discussion while enjoying a delicious bowl of gazpacho made from ingredients picked fresh from the U’s Edible Campus Gardens. Ideas such as growing one’s own vegetable garden, visiting the farmer’s markets sprinkled throughout town, and cooking one large meal each week to pick at as the days go by.

The lecture concluded with a presentation from one of University of Utah’s own chefs teaching how to make a cheap and easy peach cobbler, made from peaches bought at the farmer’s market on campus. Mouths watered as the cobbler was dished out to excited students.

“The peach cobbler made by a chef that was really good”, said Nowa, “You should go because the food’s really good and it’s definitely worth it.”

Students on campus spend most of their time running from place to place and trying to keep up with grades, so healthy food is usually the last thing on their minds. It’s nice to see the school provide a respite from the hectic world and give students a chance to take care of themselves rather than their grades. Check it out for food, fun and for better ways to eat.

Social Soup is from 12:00 -1:30 PM in the Gould Auditorium in the Marriot Library

Tuesday, October 23: Food day: Stories from Utah’s Real Food Movement

Tuesday, November 13, 2012: The Food Stamp Challenge

Campus Gardens Supplement Student Nutrition

As food stamp use rises in the United States, University of Utah students are utilizing gardening on campus as a budget-friendly way to supplement healthy food in their diets.  Garden plots on campus are available to students through the Office of Sustainability to facilitate this health conscious, budget-friendly practice. 

Hunger: Moral Social Issue

      Salt Lake City is home to many Non-Profit Organizations dedicated to aiding people stricken by poverty, abuse, homelessness and hunger. How do we measure hunger? I had the opportunity to work with the Road Home; a non-profit establishment designed to cater to those people who have nothing. The street was full of men, women, teens, children, and entire families who spend their day waiting for the chance to be one of the chosen who receive help from the Road Home; they don't have the resources to shelter, feed, clothe and financially aid everyone who seeks their help. I couldn't bring myself to take photos of these people. The parks and benches of downtown Salt Lake City is home to hundreds of the homeless. Some argue these people are a blemish on the face of the community. I argue they are the salvation. The fact that more than 500 men, women and families are unable to fend for themselves is certainly more of an embarrassment to the larger community because we simply do not care. We may have a house but our windows are certainly broken. 

Sugarhouse Community Garden

This is a virtual tour of Sugarhouse Community Gardens. Each plot is owned,cared and payed for by individuals or organizations on a monthly basis. A variety of things are grown in the garden including and not limited to, raspberries, basil, squash, cantaloupe, lettuce, spinach, sunflowers, watermelon, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins,etc.The Sugarhouse Community Gardens in addition to giving you a space to grow produce also provides classes on their maintenance and upkeep.