(TULSA, Okla.) Inflation and supply issues worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic continue to drive up the price of groceries.
As more people struggle to stretch their dollars and feed their families, VNN turned to Chef Jeff Marlow at the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma’s Culinary Center for help. 
Chef Marlow showed us how to prepare meals with common ingredients found in their emergency food boxes. (Scroll to the bottom of this article for the three healthy dishes Chef Marlow said will satisfy even the pickiest eaters.)
Chef Marlow’s passion for helping others combat food security was evident in each dash of spice and sprinkle of salt.
Food insecurity is when someone doesn't have consistent access to adequate food at times during the year because of a lack of money and other resources.
Food Bank statistics show one in four Oklahoma children were at risk of going to bed hungry for the pandemic. That number has since climbed to one in three.
One in six Oklahomans are considered food insecure. That means 594,000 Oklahomans (including 208,000 children) are unsure where they will get their next meal. 
One in 10 Oklahoma senior citizens struggle with hunger.
Chef Marlow said the Food Bank and their partners distribute more than 450,000 meals each week across a 24-county service area. The programs include emergency food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, after-school programs and senior citizen centers.
Most recently, refugees from Afghanistan are amongst those served.
When companies began furloughing employees in March 2020, the Food Bank was prepared to fulfill the needs of people who might not have utilized the Food Bank resources in the past.
The Food Bank is also the first in the nation to have an on-site Culinary Center with a professional kitchen and cooking demonstration area. The Culinary Center prepares nutritious meals from perishable food that would otherwise be thrown away.
Meals are served hot on the Mobile Eatery food trucks and preserved by freezing then distributed.
To learn more about volunteer opportunities and ways to give, go to the Community<a href="https://okfoodbank.org/volunteer/"> Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma</a> website.
Shepherd’s Pie (Soup)
1 pound ground beef
½ cup celery small diced
½ cup carrots small diced
¼ cup onion diced
1 cup Idaho potatoes medium diced (any potato will work)
1 package of French onion soup package
2 quarts of water
Salt and pepper (S&amp;P) to taste
In a stock pot brown the ground beef and drain the oil. Add all the other ingredients and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat to a low medium and let the soup slow simmer for 30 minutes or until the carrots and potatoes are tender. 
Tuna Casserole
2 cans of tuna
1 can of sweet peas
1 Diced tomatoes with garlic and Italian herbs
1 pound of pasta (any type) cooked
2 cups of milk, heavy cream or half and half, even shelf stable milk
S&amp;P to taste
In a stock pot add all ingredients and bring to a boil, adjust the heat to low and let simmer until sauce is naturally
Chicken Chili
2 cans of canned chicken
3 to 4 cans of different kinds of beans, drain and rinse beans
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 cup of cooked rice
1 quart of chicken broth
1 table spoon cumin
1 table spoon chili powder
½ cup diced onion
½ cup diced carrot
S&amp;P to taste
In a stock pot add all the ingredients and bring to a boil, adjust heat and let simmer for 30 minutes or until carrots are tender.

United States of America

Oklahoma

From emergency food box to delicious meal

Jennah James

(TULSA, Okla.) When you think of “martial arts” your mind might picture a Bruce Lee film or hand-to-hand skills that military or police use in practice. We sat down with a police officer who owns and operates <a href="http://www.relentlessmartialarts.com/" target="_blank">Relentless Martial Arts,</a> a business in Tulsa, Okla. RMA provides instruction in different types of martial arts, and classes start for kids as young as six years old. RMA is dedicated to “helping good people become better.”
Owner and professional instructor of RMA, Brandon Bennett, says that his instruction of children in martial arts instills skills that will infiltrate every facet of their lives as they grow into adults.
“It helps teach control under duress, so especially if a kid has to do any sort of sparring or physical skills where they can lose,” he says.
Children who take martial arts classes learn to deal with stress. Bennett says that it is a different type of stress, and it acts differently physiologically. Learning to cope with that stress during training becomes an aid in a more realistic life situation.
Bennett says that former students thank him all the time for training them.
“Most of our students don’t get into life-or-death situations.” He says that some foresee potentially dangerous situations and prevent them from happening due to their training. “We teach how to mitigate it to keep it from happening,” Bennett says.
“I did have one (adult) student, and a guy tried to rob him at knife point. He actually disarmed the guy and hit him.” In that situation, the student kicked the knife underneath the car and called police. Bennett says that he’s also had a number of police officers thank him for the training that they say helped saved their life.
When it comes to teaching children, Bennett teaches them to defend themselves against the types of threats they might actually face in real life.
In the YouTube video, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPjSATiTPyI" target="_blank">3 Things to Teach Your Children</a>, Bennett teaches skill sets how kids can defend themselves against dangerous situations, including child abductions.
“We want to present in a way that’s not going to panic them because we want them to be independent, but it’s going to prepare them for what really happens,” he says.
Bennett goes on to list three rules:
1) Strangers are people that act strange.
“Let’s get away from the whole idea of strangers are people you don’t know, and let’s put in them that strangers are people that act strange,” he says.
“I talk to kids about this kind of thing all the time. I ask them what a stranger looks like,” he says.
Bennett says that a stranger isn’t necessarily someone wearing all black with a mask over his face who breaks into your house.
“Sometimes these people who prey on children don’t look scary,” he says.
2) Adults don’t ask kids for help.
“That helps defeat all the rouses of ‘hey, can you help me find my dog?’ or ‘hey, you look just like my son.’ or ‘you look like a boy my son would want to play with; can I take picture of you?’”
Furthermore, adults don’t need to ask kids for directions or to help find their dog or to borrow their cell phone.
3) Adults shouldn’t ask kids to keep secrets.
“I can think of no good occasion when it’s all right for someone that is not a member of your immediate family to tell your child to keep a secret from you,” he says.
Bennett says that secrets are different from a surprise, and it’s important to explain to kids the difference and give clarification to what exactly a secret is.
He explains that if you are going to tell someone something eventually that it is classified as a surprise. “A lot of times we tell our kids, ‘hey I got this present for mommy. I got her a ring. Let’s keep this a secret.’” he said.
All of the above rules are to keep children from being victimized repeatedly.
As far as martial arts are concerned for self-defense in the safety of children, “physical skills are an easy fix, but stuff like this is harder,” he said.

Introducing children to self-defense

Ann Marie  Worthley 

(TULSA, Okla.) If you ask Jeff Thompson if he’s able to hang for the holidays with people who sip spiked sprite or chug a chocolate martini, he’d say, ‘Absolutely yes! No problem!’ 
Twenty years ago might have been a different story, though. Thompson told us he has been sober 19 years.
“Almost everybody that knows me knows that I’m sober,” Thompson said. 
In fact, Thompson said he checks in with his sponsor on a regular basis and regularly meets his sponsor for coffee. 
“I’ve been pretty transparent with my co-workers and my friends,” he said. 
Thompson, the campus director at Mother Road Market in Tulsa, said that the holidays add additional stress with the sense of obligation, perhaps interacting with family you aren’t used to being around, and those things can be triggering for some. 
“Connecting with the sober community is really, really important,” he said. 
<a href="https://verifiednews.network/code-catchers/">STORY CODE: MOCKTAIL</a> 
According to alcohol.org, alcohol consumption increases during the holidays, and the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day accounts for the most extreme cases of alcohol consumption. 
Overindulging isn’t difficult for some. 
“An alcoholic doesn’t need an excuse to drink,” Thompson said. 
Which leads to a solution that many bar owners have taken ahold of in order to embrace inclusion for all—the mocktail. 
“I think it’s important to know where you can get a mocktail if you’re going to be at a holiday party,” Thompson said. 
Thompson said if he goes to a party, sometimes he will just BYOB it—Bring Your Own (non-alcoholic) Beer. 
“That way I don’t have that sense of being the odd duck out,” Thompson said. “At the same time, I’m not drawing attention to the fact that I’m not drinking.”
At Mother Road Market, The WEL Bar has got the mocktails covered.
“Mocktails say ‘we see you, and we know you’re there, too,’” Thompson said.
At The WEL Bar, any cocktail can be made in to a mocktail. The bartenders make their drinks from scratch, each with depth and something interesting about them.
Recently, they created their take on SweeTarts. Stubborn soda, lemon-lime, a half ounce of lime juice and some grenadine make that pink drink.
They are also working with distributors to have ready-made bottled drinks on-hand. 
“O’Doul’s Amber actually tastes like a microbrew. I don’t miss beer when I have one of those. It’s just as refreshing as any beer ever was,” Thompson said. 
No matter what reason you choose to forgo the booze, Thompson said you can celebrate your sobriety without any judgment for others. In fact, he says, he can be there for people who choose to partake as their designated driver. 
“I think it’s important for me as a sober person to put people at ease. I don’t begrudge anybody the freedom to imbibe if that works for them,” he said. 
Click here for some more <a href="https://www.bhg.com/recipes/drinks/wine-cocktails/mocktails/" target="_blank">mocktail recipes</a> to try this holiday season. 
If you are wanting help to get sober, contact <a href="https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline" target="_blank">SAMHSA’s National Helpline</a>.

Jennah James

From emergency food box to delicious meal

Introducing children to self-defense

Holiday cheer for the sober