by Eli Farrington
As a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipient and low-income student dealing with chronic illness, Gus Dorman understands — more than most — how important food security can be.
Before coming to Humboldt, Dorman studied culinary arts at Diablo Valley College in the Bay Area. She is used to cooking for large groups of people and appreciates the positive impact that it can have on the community. When she saw her community struggling, she was inspired to roll up her sleeves and spring into action.
“It’s important to me because I know what it means to be hungry, and I know what it means to be without [food],” Dorman said. “What’s happening right now is not okay. We don’t always have control over what’s happening outside our community, but we do have control over how we affect change while we’re in it — and this is the way I can do that.”
For Dorman, her fellow students and her professors in the art department have become her chosen family. As an older student and a mother, she views many of the younger students as her adopted children.
Senior interdisciplinary studies major Ro Meisler designed the flyers for the event, and plans to help Dorman with Wednesday dinners going forward. Meisler has lots of love for the wider Arcata area and sees it as an incredibly unique place where a tight-knit community allows for mutual support networks to thrive. She also believes that the university often falls short when it comes to serving the basic needs of students, which inspired her to help Dorman bring this project to life.
“There’s a bunch of different projects like this that are really successful already,” Meisler said. “Just having a web of people included in making a difference, so that so much burden doesn’t fall on any one person, is really helpful.”
Meisler and Dorman plan to connect with a network of local farms and grocery stores to source the food for their Wednesday night dinners. They have already partnered with several local farms and gardens who have agreed to donate produce, including Blue Lake Rancheria’s Daluviwi’ Community Garden, Goosefoot Farm in Arcata and Red Cedar Gardens in Fieldbrook. They are also accepting donations from the community in the form of monetary contributions through Cash App, as well as canned goods.
This week’s menu includes vegan chili, meat chili, braised pork, cornbread, chips and salsa, salad, and bean and cheese burritos provided by a local community member. Community members are encouraged to bring their own cooked dishes to share and volunteers are welcome to join in on the mutual aid.
“Our students are already pressed when this kind of stuff is not happening,” Dorman said. “The number of homeless students, the number of food insecure students, the number of displaced and ignored students — it’s a problem. I think the more we address it this way; it’s a kinder approach, and we’re asking people to be involved.”
Both Meisler and Dorman are passionate about social justice and advocacy for disenfranchised communities. They want their Wednesday dinners to help feed the campus community, but they also want to address the issue of food waste by connecting with more local grocery stores, bakeries and farms to make use of good food that would otherwise be thrown away due to imperfections or aesthetic reasons.
“We have so many injustices in our own country and in the world,” Dorman said. “There’s not a lot of safety that people can trust in, but one thing is certain across every culture — that if you can sit down at the table and eat together, change can happen. It’s a really powerful way to have conversations that are difficult in other respects, and food bridges those gaps often.
Eli Farrington is a senior journalism major and Managing Editor for The Lumberjack. He has a passion for social justice, and hopes to use his writing to shed light on underrepresented local communities. He can be reached at eaf62@humboldt.edu.
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