Fort Pierce – Monday June 27, 2022: The Treasure Coast Food Bank has announced that it has received a $75,000 grant from the Morgan Stanley Foundation to expand food choices.
This approach offers families, children and communities of color and rural communities on the Treasure Coast increased choice among available foods or food boxes at Treasure Coast Food Bank’s partner agencies or program sites, providing healthy options and ensuring access to foods aligned with preferences and dietary requirements.
Now in its second year, this national grant is focused on increasing access to a variety of nutritious foods by addressing barriers that families face in their communities and enhancing their experience through choice. The funds will provide a unique opportunity for Treasure Coast Food Bank to explore increasing choice in food distribution models in the region while maintaining COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
Since the start of the pandemic, food insecurity has significantly affected families with children, especially those in rural communities and communities of color. One in 4 people, including 1 in 4 children, face hunger on the Treasure Coast. Treasure Coast Food Bank, a member of the Feeding America ® network, is one of 30 member food banks receiving this funding from the Morgan Stanley Foundation.
It is projected that this grant will enable Treasure Coast Food Bank to work with several partner agencies to enhance their client choice pantries which allow people in need of food to select healthy items that align with their preferences. The grant helps Treasure Coast Food Bank fulfill the broader goals of ensuring a dignified client experience, providing more healthy food options, and generating less food waste.
“We are committed to ensuring that every person assisted through our network of food pantries be treated with dignity, and having each individual select foods of their own choosing provides for a dignified experience while also ensuring that less food goes to waste as clients select only items they want and can use,” said Judith Cruz, President and CEO of Treasure Coast Food Bank. “We are grateful to the Morgan Stanley Foundation for this grant that enhances better choices for our clients.”
Feeding America will support member food banks in identifying appropriate ways to engage neighbors experiencing food insecurity during the expansion of food choices. In addition, the organization will engage in a formal evaluation process to better understand how increasing choice affects children and their families.
“The Morgan Stanley Foundation has been dedicated for over half a century to ensuring children receive a healthy start to life, and we’re proud to support the Feeding America network to offer increased choice to families experiencing food insecurity,” said Joan Steinberg, Managing Director, Global Head of Philanthropy at Morgan Stanley. “Millions of people experience food insecurity in the United States, which has only been exacerbated by the pandemic, and we are pleased to work with Feeding America to help fight hunger and support children and families in innovative ways.”
Morgan Stanley has a long-standing commitment to helping communities facing hunger and has provided more than $41.7 million over the last decade to Feeding America, to support hunger-relief programs that deliver food assistance and healthy meals to children and families across the country.
To learn more about how you can join the fight to end hunger, visit: stophunger.org.
ABOUT TREASURE COAST FOOD BANK
Treasure Coast Food Bank is the only food bank and largest hunger relief organization on Florida’s Treasure Coast, providing the community each year with millions of meals valued at more than $50 million through robust programs and in partnership with 400 charitable organizations in Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, and Okeechobee counties.
In addition to emergency food distribution, Treasure Coast Food Bank operates a full roster of direct service programs that not only solve the immediate problem of hunger, but help individuals and families gain long-term food security, better health outcomes, and self-sufficiency.
Treasure Coast Food Bank is a member of Feeding America, the nationwide network of 200 food banks that leads the fight against hunger in the United States.
For more information on Treasure Coast Food Bank, call 772.489.3034, log on to: stophunger.org, visit their Facebook page at: facebook.com/tcfoodbank, or follow them on Twitter at: twitter.com/tcfoodbank.
Source: wqcs.org
