Brown and White Vol. 130 no. 13

              The Brown and White Vol. 130 No. 13
Friday, April 1, 2016 ‘All the Lehigh News First’
Co-op works
to alleviate
effects of
food desert
Navigating a crisis abroad
By DANIELLE CAMPBELL
Assistant Visuals Editor
Jaime Karpovich was in the mid-dle
of preparing a meal during the
fall of 2011 when she realized she
had forgotten to purchase a red pep-per
for the dish.
She knew she would not be able to
go to a grocery store and back in less
than half an hour without a car, and
she posted about her frustration on
Facebook.
Karpovich described the difficul-ties
living of purchasing food in
South Bethlehem, which is classi-fied
as a food desert by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
The department considers an area
a food desert based on accessibility
to healthy food and the proximity to
a store with these foods as it relates
to income to vehicle availability,
which affects an individual’s access
to these food stores.
Carol Ritter, the membership
recruitment coordinator of the
Bethlehem Food Co-op, noticed oth-ers
related to Karpovich’s situation
and problems.
“Within a couple of hours, another
post on Facebook said they were
having a public meeting at the pub-lic
library,” said Colleen Marsh,
the Bethlehem Food Co-op board
co-chair. “Over a hundred people
showed up at that meeting.”
Because of the low access to
a quality grocery store in South
Bethlehem, the area has been iden-tified
as a food desert by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. As a
result of this status, the Bethlehem
Food Co-op was formed by members
Lehigh’s secluded sculpture
garden attracts students with
its unconventional artwork.
See Page 5
Inside Lifestyle
See FOOD Page 3
Kelly McCoy/B&W Staff
Map created with www.amcharts.com
By LAURYN RAGONE
Associate News Editor
When more than 30 people were
killed in a bombing in Brussels
on March 22, Lehigh officials sent
an email to students studying
abroad to confirm their locations
and safety statuses. The email also
detailed the resources available to
students while abroad, including
International SOS, their host pro-gram
providers and Lehigh’s coun-seling
and psychological services.
There are 120 Lehigh students
studying abroad for the Spring
2016 semester, Kathryn Welsh
Radande, the interim direc-tor
of Study Abroad and Global
Experiences said. No students are
participating in a Belgium-based
study abroad program, but Megan
Chang, ’17, traveled to Brussels on
March 22 from Spain. She arrived
in Brussels six hours after the
bombings.
“I was shocked,” Chang wrote in
an email. “I was horrified by what
happened. The death toll kept on
going up. I was scared to see what
Brussels would be like when I
arrived. I didn’t know if people
were going to be in a panic or if the
streets would be empty.
“There was a memorial in front
of the stock exchange building.
I passed by it when I first got
to Brussels and people, not just
Belgians, were writing messag-es
in chalk. When I was leaving
Brussels, there was a lot more peo-ple
and camera crews outside the
building. People were holding flags
and lighting candles.”
After she was back in Barcelona,
Chang said she feels safe. She
does, however, travel with friends
at all times for security.
To ensure students’ safety,
Lehigh provides International
SOS cards at pre-departure meet-ings.
According to the Lehigh
Study Abroad Office website,
International SOS, which is a part-ner
program with Lehigh, is a “24-
hour international medical, securi-ty
and travel assistance provider.”
In addition, the International
Travel Advisory Committee and
the Lehigh International Crisis
Advisory group are two groups
made of faculty members who work
to oversee study abroad programs.
The International Travel
Advisory Committee, established
by Provost Pat Farrell in 2012,
meets every two weeks to review
all undergraduate student travel.
Welsh Radande said they also dis-cuss
policies and procedures and
monitor the U.S. Department of
State, Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention and World Health
Organization for any potential
threats to Lehigh students.
Lehigh’s International Crisis
Advisory group meets when there
is an international crisis abroad.
According to the university’s
International Affairs website, the
group “oversees the internation-al
Emergency Response Plan and
acts as on-call responders for crisis
management on Lehigh-led pro-grams.”
They then make decisions
and recommendations about the
safety of students.
Various entities monitor, assess threats to safety
“My son would be
alive today if he knew
he was eight minutes
away from the
Japanese Red Cross
Hospital.
Sheryl Hill
Executive Director, ClearCause ”
See ABROAD Page 4