healing the past for a healthy future...your food shelf, too. •our place drop-in center created...

Healing the Past

for a Healthy Future

Healing the Past for a Healthy Future

Healthy Foods in Food Shelves

• Panel Discussion Overview• Setting the Stage with Data - Kate Roome, RN, Vermont

Department of Health

• Stocking Food Shelves with Foods for People with Chronic Medical Conditions – Alice Stewart, RiseVT

• The Guide to Healthy Food Donations and Our Place Nutritional Guidelines – Lisa Pitcher, Our Place Drop-In Center and Windham Region Hunger Council

• Putney Food Shelf: Fresh Veggies in a Small Space –Nancy Olson, Putney Food Shelf


3-4-50


Looking through a Health Equity lens

Stocking Food Shelves with Foods for People with Chronic Medical Conditions


Windsor-area Food Shelf Profile

• 4 towns in WSESU

• 5 food shelves• Smallest are open 1 hour per week• Largest is open 3x per week (3.5 hours total) last 3 weeks

of the month

• 2 get food from the VT Foodbank

• 2 others get food from Willing Hands (donated fruits and vegetables from stores and farms)

• Most food is donated by town residents or purchased with donated funds


Survey

• VDH and RiseVT designed survey in consultation with Windsor Food Shelf manager

• First version asked what chronic medical conditions patrons had, e.g. diabetes, COPD, celiac disease

• Refocused to types of food they would be interested in, based on feedback from Food Shelf manager


Revised Survey


Survey Design Pointers

• Keep it to a single page

• Use Word readability statistics or similar test to ensure reading level isn’t above 5th-8th grade level

• Use a larger type size, easy-to-read font

• You can use a survey to gather information, and to educate


Using a Survey to Educate


Survey Dissemination Tips

• Most successful food shelf (in terms of response rates) asked people to complete the survey when they gave out Thanksgiving bags

• Offering to help people complete the survey increases response rates


Next Steps in Our Plan

• Develop marketing materials• Postcard shopping list

• Poster advertising food drives

• Poster and/or brochure advertising availability to food shelf patrons

• Pilot targeted food drive at Mt. Ascutney in May

• Engage area businesses, municipalities, and organizations to adopt a month, repeated annually

• Work with food shelves on quantities of each type of food they need to ensure steady supply with inventory turnover


Survey Results


Food Drive Shopping List - Draft


More Next Steps

• Educate medical providers about program and provide materials they can hand out to patients

• Back door to food shelf prescriptions


Our Place Drop-In Center, Bellows Falls

• Our mission is to provide help with food and other essential needs in a non-judgmental, safe and respectful atmosphere.

• We purchase approximately 35% of the food we distribute.

• Our kitchen staff prepares and serves about 1000 meals each month.


Produce is available in the dining area daily


Windham Region Hunger Council

• The Guide to Healthy Food Donations was a collaborative effort.

• The guide helps inform volunteers and donors.

• We would like to update the guide with new ideas and formats with input from partners.


Our Place nutritional guidelines

• We created guidelines for the shelf stable foods that we purchase for the food pantry.

• Canned Vegetables: a minimum of 15% DV for Vitamin A or C or a combination of vitamins and minerals equaling at least 20% DV.

• Canned Fruit: a minimum of 20% of DV for Vitamin A or C, or 30% combination of vitamins and minerals.


Our Place nutritional guide

• Soups and canned meals: We do not purchase any soup with more than 600 mg per serving. Low sodium soups are preferable.

• A minimum of 5 grams of protein per serving unless a vegetarian soup.

• Juice – 100% juice and no artificial colors

• Cereal – less than 8 grams of sugar per serving, and whole grain or oats


Guide to Healthy Snack Donations for Children

• Keene State Dietetic Interns Program helped update a guide for donations of kids snacks.

• The Food Pantry Collaborative ( Healthy Harvest Network) organized a back to school food drive using the guides for healthy food donations.


Suggested Items:

Dried Fruit Dried fruit with no added sugars. Examples:

mangos, apricots, prunes, apples, pears.

Pudding Cups Preferably fortified, fat-free or low-fat.

Juice Boxes 100% juice. If it doesn’t have 100% juice, it will

typically have added sugars and artificial

ingredients.

Granola Bars/Fruit Bars Look for bars that have less than 200 calories per

serving and less than 17 grams of sugar per serving.

Nuts/Seeds Look for unsalted, individual packaged nuts or

seeds.

Fruit Cups Find fruit cups in 100% fruit juice, no added sugars.

Whole Grain Crackers Make sure “whole grain” is the first on the

ingredient list, choose a cracker with 140 mg

sodium or less per serving.

Popcorn Bags Find popcorn bags with low sodium and low fat.


Putney Food Shelf: Fresh Veggies in a Small Space

• Photos by Susan Kochinskas


Putney Food Shelf: Fresh Veggies in a Small Space


Summary

• Data shows we can impact the health of Vermonters by ensuring their access to healthy food.

• A recent survey in Windsor area food shelves showed that a high percentage of customers want healthy foods available in food shelves. You can design a survey for your food shelf, too.

• Our Place Drop-In Center created nutritional guidelines for shelf-stable foods and uses the Guide to Healthy Food Donations and a Guide to Healthy Snack Donations for Children.

• Putney Food Shelf is a small food shelf with big success in stocking healthy foods.


Handouts

• Help yourself to these:

3-4-50 Health Equity Brief

Sample Survey for Food Shelf Clients

RiseVT Contact List

Windham Region Hunger Council – Guide to Healthy Food Donations

Putney Food Shelf – 2018 in Review

healing the past for a healthy future...your food shelf, too. •our place drop-in center created...

Documents