Taking a page from meal kit services like Blue Apron and HelloFresh, some hunger relief organizations are making basic versions of the kits available to clients. The kits fulfill multiple roles, offering variety and convenience to clients, as well as a novel engagement experience for volunteers. The bare-bones meal kits…
Food Bank News
Food banks have probably noticed more healthcare organizations reaching out to them for help in addressing food insecurity. That’s because healthcare is being charged with identifying and addressing all the non-clinical reasons their patients are unhealthy, like a lack of housing or nutritious food. (Food Bank News wrote about that…
At the exhibit hall of the Food as Medicine Summit happening in Chicago next week, there will be organizations familiar to food banks, including Feeding America, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the International Fresh Produce Association. There will also be exhibitors that many food banks have likely never…
Food is Medicine offers incredible opportunities to use federal and state healthcare dollars to provide people with nutritious food. One issue is that everyone wants in on that opportunity. Food banks are well-positioned to receive government funds to do Food is Medicine. So are a growing number of private food…
Linda Nageotte may have been named President and Chief Operating Officer of Feeding America last July, but in practice she is more like Convener in Chief. One of her mandates is to develop a strategic framework for the Feeding America network of 200 food banks and additional affiliated food banks,…
By all accounts, a program that the USDA introduced in late 2021 to help local farmers grow nutritious food for underserved communities has worked out exceedingly well (Food Bank News first wrote about it here.) The Local Food Purchase Assistance program has resulted in nearly $700 million of funds going…
In just a couple of months, eligible families in 36 states will be able to use federal benefits loaded onto cards to purchase food for their kids during the summer. The program, known as Summer EBT (for electronic benefits transfer), is based on a similar program that emerged during the…
Food banks exist to provide food for free to people who need it. Alameda County Community Food Bank is proving that food banks can also get paid for providing that food. In February, the Calif.-based food bank received its first payment for providing healthy food to a patient on behalf…
Standards are hardly exciting. But if an organization wants to expand its reach and influence, they’re a necessity. The Food is Medicine Coalition is hoping that the standard it just released around medically tailored meals will get more organizations to adopt high-quality, nutritious meals as a way to treat chronic…