UPDATE: From October 2018 to December 2019, I was the Healthy Food Access Project Collaboration Manager for Community Action. The final Healthy Food Access report/community assessment is now available.
Further details on the project are below.
The Healthy Food Access Project is funded by the Community Health Endowment, and has a number of goals, all aimed at increasing the amount of healthy food eaten by low-income children in our community. The first part of the project kicks off next week, when constructions starts on a commercial kitchen in the Community Action Partnership of Lancaster and Saunders Counties building. This kitchen will be leased to Kinder Bites, who will prepare healthy meals for all of the children in the Community Action Head Start programs, as well as for the Summer Food Service Program. The latter program will be managed by the Food Bank of Lincoln as part of this project. Another part of the kitchen will be leased to Lone Tree Foods, which connects local farmers with local buyers, and will allow them to greatly expand their services.
The final part of the project will allow the Food Bank to buy a large vehicle to distribute fresh produce in neighborhoods with limited access to healthy foods. This truck will make eight stops per week, all year long, at various sites in Lincoln. Fresh produce will include a wide variety of products, including many local products during the growing season.
It’s exciting to return to the local foods world and work with such a fantastic group of people on a meaningful project for Lincoln. Let me know if you have suggestions or connections for me regarding this project.