When Ramon Jeter was in grade school, his mother would pack extra food in his lunchbox, “just in case there was a child who did not have anything to eat for lunch,” he recalled. “That has always stuck with me.” Now Jeter, a junior from Birmingham who is majoring in public health, is looking to help entire communities in Alabama’s central Black Belt region get access to healthy food. His Hometown Grown Project revolves around aquaponic farming, a self-sustaining system in which fish and plants grow together. The aim is to reduce the number of households lacking food security while engaging the community in the promotion of self-sufficiency and healthy food alternatives.
“Poverty and food insecurity are issues that should be addressed, not only on a global or national scale, but on a local level as well,” Jeter said. “As the saying goes, ‘If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.’”