This last week we have been working on getting a real look at our community. Me and the rest of the girls took a short tour in the neighborhood around EPIC. We took pictures of all the local restaurants, fast food places, fitness centers, and other things that gave off an idea of what this community is like. From our walk we saw that there are more unhealthy places to grab a bite than anything. We did notice that the grocery stores were far and few between all of the chain restaurants and corner stores. We visited a Save-A-Lot close to our school and saw that there was a very small fresh produce area while the rest of the store was stocked with frozen, boxed, and unhealthy foods. When we tried to take photos to show later, the staff told us that we weren't allowed to photograph the store at all. In addition, we came across a small family owned store that carried fresh produce but also held a large selection of junk food. Again, when we came in and tried to record information but the owners became nervous; so we decided to leave the store in respect to them. Lastly, there are a lot of old vacant lots that are very common in South Chicago. They are filled with garbage and debris, and make the community look unfriendly and unsanitary. It was good for our group to go out in the community and see it for ourselves.
We saw a lot of the needs of the community, but we also got to see many of the assets. There were churches, schools such as EPIC, community centers, government housing, parks and friendly neighbors who are looking out for their community. It was a great experience!