Hunger does not always look like an empty plate.
Sometimes it looks like a full-time worker standing in a grocery aisle doing math. It is a senior deciding whether medication or groceries can wait, a college student skipping dinner, or a family that appears completely stable while stretching every dollar behind closed doors. Someone experiencing homelessness it may simply mean wondering where their next safe meal will come from. Food insecurity often hides in plain sight.
What Tulsa’s Numbers Reveal
Tulsa’s own data show why this deserves attention. The City of Tulsa’s 2025 Equality Indicators report identified food deserts by geography as one of the city’s lowest scoring equality indicators, reflecting a significant disparity in food access across Tulsa.
Homelessness adds another layer to the problem. The 2026 Tulsa City/County Point in Time Count identified 1,443 people experiencing homelessness on the night of January 22. Of those counted, 77% were unsheltered, 14% were employed, and 8% were veterans.
Those numbers represent people making difficult decisions every day.
Do I buy groceries or put gas in the car? Do I purchase healthier food or buy whatever will stretch the farthest? Do I pay the utility bill today and figure out food tomorrow?
For someone experiencing homelessness, the questions may be even more basic: Where can I eat today? Where can I store food? How do I prepare a meal without a refrigerator, stove, or permanent place to live?
And for the veterans represented in Tulsa’s homelessness count, there is another difficult reality. People who once served this country can still find themselves facing housing instability and food insecurity.
No veteran should have to wonder where the next meal will come from or where they will sleep that night.
Hunger Demands More Than Awareness
That is why conversations about hunger must begin with dignity.
September is Hunger Action Month, a national campaign held every September to raise awareness and inspire action against hunger. Feeding America reports that the campaign began in 2007 and encourages people to participate through volunteering, donating, fundraising, and community partnerships.
Awareness matters. But awareness alone does not fill a refrigerator, it does not put food on the table. It cannot stock an empty refrigerator, provide breakfast before a child heads to school, stretch a working parent’s paycheck through the end of the week, or guarantee a safe meal for someone sleeping outside. Action is what turns concern into nourishment.
Turning Concern Into Local Action
Here in the Tulsa area, that action can begin close to home.
The Potter Project, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is one of the community organizations working to address food insecurity. Organizations like The Potter Project matter because hunger is not simply about whether food exists somewhere in the community. Food must be affordable, accessible, and consistently available to the people who need it.
The barriers are different for every household.
It may be transportation. It may be reduced work hours, rising expenses, an unexpected medical bill, or the absence of a financial cushion. For someone experiencing homelessness, the barriers may include lack of refrigeration, cooking facilities, transportation, identification, or a permanent address.
Sometimes the barrier is pride.
People do not always want others to know they are struggling.
That does not mean the need is not real.
Community organizations help close those gaps. They give businesses, churches, professional organizations, families, and individuals a way to turn concern into action.
And helping does not require being wealthy.
A business can sponsor a food drive. A church or organization can collect needed supplies. Friends can volunteer together. A family can make a financial contribution. Someone who cannot donate money can donate time. Someone who cannot volunteer can introduce a nonprofit to a potential partner or simply help others learn about the work being done.
Every contribution has value.
Small Contributions Can Have a Major Impact
As a Lean Six Sigma certified professional and Certified Program Manager, much of my professional experience involves thinking about systems, resources, processes, and measurable outcomes. Community service has taught me something equally important: some of the most meaningful outcomes begin with very simple acts.
A bag of groceries may seem small to the person donating it.
To someone else, it may mean dinner.
It can mean a child starting the school day with breakfast, a parent having enough gas to get to work, or a senior avoiding the painful choice between food and another basic necessity. For someone experiencing homelessness, it can simply mean having one less worry to carry that day.
A Call to Support The Potter Porject
This September and into the holiday season, I encourage our community to support The Potter Project, Inc.
Donate. Volunteer. Sponsor a food or supply drive. Connect the organization with a business, church, civic group, or professional association. Share its mission. Most importantly, ask what is needed rather than assuming.
No single nonprofit can eliminate hunger or homelessness alone.
But a community can decide that the people and organizations doing this work will not have to do it alone.
Food insecurity is not a measure of someone’s character. Neither is homelessness. A job loss, medical emergency, rent increase, family crisis, or unexpected expenses can change a household’s circumstances quickly.
September gives us a month to talk about hunger.
People experiencing hunger do not get to put it away on October 1.
So, give. Volunteer. Partner. Share.
Support The Potter Project, Inc.
Hunger Action Month ends September 30. Hunger does not. Homelessness does not. Our commitment to our neighbors should not end then either.
