DAVID SEPULVEDA PHOTO
The image of a young boy biting into a shiny, red apple materialized over several hours late Wednesday afternoon as Ryan (Arcy) Christenson, a graffiti artist and muralist, painted his statement on a large 8’ x 12’ panel at Orange Street’s Pitkin Plaza.
David O’Sullivan, Director of N.H. Community Soup Kitchen, and Joy Johannes, Executive Director of Fish of Greater New Haven.
The demonstration was part of an activity designed to focus attention on the plight of Connecticut’s hungry and some of the organizations committed to meeting the challenges of hunger on a daily basis. Event host Connecticut Food Bank had representation there, along with New Haven Community Soup Kitchen, Stop Hunger in New Haven, Loaves and Fishes, and Fish of Greater New Haven, a free, grocery delivery organization with outreach to the sick, elderly, disabled and those without transportation to soup kitchens.
Staff from Citizens Bank, co-host and sponsor of the event, dispensed cutting boards and recipes with tips on stretching food budgets.
RJ the DJ, who volunteers his services several times a year to such causes, pumped festive music into the plaza. Banners on trucks, walls and tables served as visual reminders of the daunting statistics around food insecurity: One in seven people, and one in five children, struggle with hunger in Connecticut.
Arcy is part of the area’s preeminent Hi Crew graffiti group and had a hand in completing the Under 91 project in New Haven. He paints sanctioned graphic murals around the world as RC Murals. Frequently reaching into his aerosol arsenal in Pitkin Plaza, the artist created subtle flesh tones and highlights in different areas of the billboard-sized format.
The magic lay in seeing his sketch come together, a giant version of the small photo he referred to for inspiration. On a nearby table, the artist had his own statement of purpose in signing on to the awareness-raising event: “As a father of two, I understand the importance of healthy meals, and the fact that one in five children in America are not receiving them.… The ongoing battle of childhood hunger deeply inspired me to depict a heartfelt interpretation of its importance on our society.”
Second from right, CT Food Bank staff person Courtney Marello and Camille Whitten, a volunteer.
Rob Levine, CT Food Bank president and CEO, said the mural will be installed in a prominent area of CT Food Bank’s new 84,00 square foot facility in Wallingford.
“This will be the centerpiece of our community engagement and activity center,” he said — a hub of volunteers who help serve the over 700 food pantries, shelters, and soup kitchens throughout Connecticut.
So nice to see that the awareness about these essential New Haven anti-hunger institutions is growing.
A link to the recent interview on WNHH with Alycia Santilli and Ann Greene, which features CARE's data about local rates of food insecurity, would be helpful.
[Here goes: http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/orange_t-shirt_brigade_returns/ ]