Nutrition Initiatives (Guesting at Sustainable Food blog)

My second guest post is up at Change.org's Sustainable Food blog. Check it out!

I do want to highlight one key passage from the post:

[W]e purchase the bulk of our food from the Capital Area Food Bank. They also supply 700 organizations with 20 million pounds of food for more than 383,000 people of food annually.

Recently, as part of their own nutrition initiative, the Food Bank has also been overhauling their menu to feature fresher foods and alternative products. As one of their two biggest purchasers, Bread for the City has a close working relationship with them - and they pay attention to the what's happening in our pantry.

When, in the course of our Nutrition Initiative, we decided that we wanted to carry only low-salt corn and green beans, we worked with the Food Bank to identify these new products and secure the supply lines. Likewise with brown rice and whole wheat pasta: these were items that Bread for the City decided we wanted to offer, and we are now able to receive them from up the chain at the Food Bank.

As a result, many of the Food Bank’s clients now purchase these alternative, healthier products for their own pantries. “It’s really working out well for our other agencies,” says Mark Kiriakou, the Food Bank’s Senior Director of Food Resources.

That's one of the things I'm most proud of from my work here: seeing the effect of our own efforts reverberate throughout the community.

Thanks to Mark Kiriakou at the Food Bank for working with us on the Nutrition Initiative, and on this story!