Local Author Inspires Community Involvement

by Bailey Basham, Messenger Intern
When Laura Willis published her book “Finding God in a Bag of Groceries” in 2013, she had no idea that it would have such an impact on community outreach in Sewanee.
Willis, who served as the director of the Community Action Committee (CAC) for 10 years, and editor and publisher of the Sewanee Mountain Messenger for five years, said she decided to write a book because of her experience working with the people who came to receive aid from the CAC.
“My book is really a memoir about two things—poverty and need in Sewanee and my own spiritual journey. People often think that Sewanee is a bunch of well-to-do people, and yet there are families among us who we don’t even recognize as struggling,” said Willis. “We all have a good idea of what urban poverty looks like, but rural poverty is more complex than it looks on TV or in the movies. Rural poverty can be almost invisible. There’s no public park bench for homeless people to sleep on; no soup kitchen with a line wrapping around the block— homeless people in rural communities sleep in their car or hang out in a 24-hour store. They go to places such as the CAC for food. Food insecurity is something both the CAC and Morton Memorial are trying to address because it’s such a big issue here.”
Monteagle Sewanee Rotary members John Noffsinger and John Goodson both said the idea for the Rotary Hunger Walk was born from Willis’ book.
“After retiring and reading ‘Finding God in a Bag of Groceries’ I decided there was something else I wanted to do with my life,” said Noffsinger. “We have 17 percent more children in poverty now than we did before the Great Recession. What can we do to help with that? Now I’ve been involved with the food ministry at Morton for two years, and reading Laura Willis’s book got me more involved with the food ministry at Morton more than anything else.”
Goodson agreed. “Reading Laura’s book motivated me to try to do something to make a difference,” said Goodson.
It was Goodson’s idea originally to begin the Hunger Walk, a 5-mile run/walk along the Sewanee portion of the Mountain Goat Trail to raise awareness about food insecurity on the Mountain, as well as raise money to help the food ministries at the CAC and Morton Memorial United Methodist Church.
“I knew that I had an opportunity to do something to help as president of the Rotary,” said Goodson. “What inspired me most about the book was the theme and title of the book, ‘Finding God in a Bag of Groceries.’ After reading the book, I spoke with Betty Carpenter, director of the CAC, on several occasions to see what the Rotary Club could do. One day the idea just came to me. We need the problem of hunger on the Mountain to be dealt with.”
In 2014, it was estimated that 13.3 percent of the Franklin County population is affected by food insecurity. Roughly one in three children on the Plateau are food insecure. Nine out of 100 senior citizens will live without access to enough food.
“We live in a food desert. Shopping for groceries and finding fresh fruits and vegetables is difficult. A lot of people who are on limited incomes buy groceries at the dollar store, and you’re not going to find anything fresh or healthy there,” said Willis.
Proceeds from Hunger Walk sponsorships and registration fees will go to support the food ministries at the CAC and Morton Memorial.
“For more than 40 years, the CAC has been offering a very important ministry in our community, and the Hunger Walk is a great way to raise awareness and raise money for that,” said Willis.
Willis said, for her, the attention her book has gotten in terms of raising awareness about food insecurity has been a surprise.
“It’s humbling to see that my book has had this sort of impact for people. I wrote it because I wanted to raise awareness about hunger and poverty, so I’m honored that people have read it and been inspired to act,” said Willis. “I’m a person of faith, so I believe that must have been what the purpose of my book was—to help people become more compassionate to those in need.”
The Second Annual Hunger Walk will be Saturday, Sept. 3. To register for the walk or for more information about the cause, visit Facebook.com/SewaneeHungerWalk or thehungerwalk.com.