GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Community organizations have collaborated to provide boxes of fresh produce to families in the Latino community.
With the COVID-19 pandemic highlighting the needs and concerns of Grand Rapids residents, the issue of access to nutritious food like fresh fruits and vegetables has been raised frequently.
The National Kidney Foundation of Michigan (NKFM), Heartside Gleaning, the Hispanic Center of West Michigan (HCWM) and Mercy Health have collaborated to offer Heartside Gleaning’s Good Food Box (GFB) program.
The program provides fresh produce to areas called food deserts, where people have limited access to a variety of healthful foods. It is a part of the NKFM’s diabetes community education funded by Mercy Health. It is geared towards families in the Latino community with a focus on the Roosevelt Park neighborhood.
“(Mercy Health) believed -- as do we, very strongly -- that nutrition education, without access to healthy food, doesn’t really improve lives or health,” said Lisa Sisson, director of the Heartside Gleaning Initiative. “So, they wanted to make it possible for people to have access to fresh food along with nutrition education classes.”
The Heartside Gleaning’s Good Food Box program provides approximately six pounds of fresh produce per person to around 250 people. The total is more than 25,000 pounds of food since the program’s launch.
The produce is purchased from or donated by local farmers markets to food deserts, which do not have fresh food items available.
The collaborative uses the fresh food and nutrition education programs to combat common health conditions including obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes.
Carla Sanchez, program coordinator for NKFM, coordinates the diabetes prevention and diabetes improvement programs for the areas Latino community. Every other week, she surveys program participants on what fresh produce they want and provides recipes for those foods prior to them receiving the boxes.
Before the pandemic, Sanchez would join Heartside Gleaning at the pickup sites to do on-site nutrition education and answer questions. She now provides this guidance virtually.
“The changes achieved in the program include participants consuming vegetables that they had never seen or simply did not buy because of their high price,” Sanchez said. “I help my participants recognize what grows in Michigan, the importance of consuming what is in season, as well as how they can freeze their vegetables.”
Prior to the pandemic, the GFB team delivered the food boxes to the nutrition education locations. Now that classes are virtual, the boxes are pre-packed and brought to a central location for pick up.
The program currently has 50 families. They were selected based on their connection with partner organizations or already having been enrolled in nutrition education programs, Sisson said.
While the program began in February, the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic has lead to an increased number of families in need of food assistance.
“The populations that we’re serving are the ones greatest impacted by COVID-19 and ... their long-term lack of access to healthy food that’s increased their rates of obesity and diabetes which are the pre-existing factors for various COVID cases and deaths,” Sisson said.
Due to reduced access to food, many Latino residents rely on soup kitchens and food pantries for their daily food intake, where the cost of serving fresh food is often prohibitive, program officials say.
Now with the pandemic, those who typically take public transportation face the threat of COVID-19 when traveling to get food at available sites.
In addition to the GFB program, Heartside Gleaning also delivers fresh items to food pantries and free or low cost meals throughout the Grand Rapids area.
Heartside Gleaning also held free open markets from June through October where they distributed 24,000 pounds at the Heartside and Roosevelt Park locations.
Sisson says the initiative is considering planning a similar indoor program this winter in Roosevelt Park to meet the increased need for fresh food.
Heartside Gleaning welcomes organizations interested in partnering to provide the food boxes in their area to contact them, as “there’s such a strong need” at this time, Sisson said.
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The Link LonkDecember 16, 2020 at 05:03AM
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Groups partner to provide fresh food to Grand Rapids Latino community - MLive.com
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