First Stop: Horseshoe Bend (Boise County)

I facilitated my very first focus group discussion in Horseshoe Bend on March 23rd.  The morning of the focus group meeting came and I was incredibly nervous.  My supervisor was surprised by this and explained that I had absolutely nothing to be worried about, not that I was convinced by this.  I had no idea what to expect, yet I was excited to play my part in this work.

We received an incredible amount of support from the community in setting up this meeting.  We were offered meeting space at the school, childcare for the participants, & The Riverside restaurant graciously delivered dinner.

All I can share for now is how well the first meeting went, I am very grateful to all who were willing to participate.  It is a blessing to hear personal stories that others are willing to share, all wonderful feedback.  My nerves were definitely evaporated by the end of the meeting!

While our current budget could only support a limited number of focus group sites, including only one town in Boise county, I have included some data about this particular area.

Number of grocery stores in Horseshoe Bend: 2 grocery stores, 1 seasonal farm stand

Estimated Boise County population in 2009: 7,504

Number of people in Boise County on food stamps in September 2009: 397

Percentage of Boise County population on food stamps in September 2009: 5%

Percentage of unemployed in Boise County as of December 2009: 10.6%

Child poverty rate in 2008: 18.2%

Closest Food Stamp office: Boise (Estimated distance: 26 miles)

In these discussions and in my own VISTA experience I am discovering the financial burden necessities like gas & food can implement on each monthly budget.  I have noticed gas prices rising, this makes me nervous because I live 15 miles from where I work and need to budget gas accordingly.
I could only imagine trying to budget for gas to access affordable nutritious food as well, I guess not everybody lives 5 minutes from a grocery store.

That is just a small piece of what I am learning so far, I look forward to the next step.

~Reyne

More to come soon.....