By Amanda Moses
On November 20th, The Opportunity Hub hosted their first Thanksgiving food distribution inside of their office located at 1230 Pennsylvania Avenue (C3).
About a dozen older adults sat inside of The Opportunity Hub’s renovated office, where there is new spaces dedicated for workshops and meetings. For the first time, the non-profit organization hosted two healthy eating workshops and demonstrations for Spring Creek Towers’ residents to attend as well as a food distribution for Thanksgiving.
Approximately, 100 bags of food—including Thanksgiving staples such as stuffing, mac and cheese, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, fresh chicken and more—were distributed. In addition to supplying food, The Opportunity Hub received donations of canned and dry goods from SCT residents to distribute to those in need.
In the morning, Nasima Abdulalim, who is an instructor at Touro College, gave a brief seminar on diabetes and how to help maintain control over the disease with better eating habits.
“Pre-Diabetes is a serious condition where blood sugar levels are higher than normal but, not high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes,” Abdulalim said.
Abdulalim stated that about 7% of the United States population is diabetic and are receiving medication for it. Approximately 96 million American adults, about 1 in 3, are prediabetic and more than 80% of those individuals don’t know they have it. By being unaware of having this disease, people are at a high risk to develop type 2 diabetes, stroke or even a heart attack.
Marie Lourdes Charles appreciated that The Opportunity Hub included a wellness workshop on healthier eating to accompany the food distribution.
“I was able to ask questions about my diabetes and learn what is good for me to eat. It was very nice,” Charles said. “In my family it is only me who has diabetes. When you are diabetic, you have to take care of yourself. It was also very nice to get the food.”
In the afternoon, there was also a cooking demonstration with Jesse Miller and Tiana Rainford from East New York Farms, where they prepared a low-sodium and low-fat green bean recipe.
“All residents were provided with a packet that included a few Thanksgiving recipes, information about food pantries in the neighborhood and surrounding area, as well as information about The Opp Hub’s upcoming events and services,” Nanda Prabhakar said, the Executive Director of The Opportunity Hub.
Photos by Amanda Moses
