Central PA Food Bank completes healthy food grant in Sunbury

A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrients, including fluid, macronutrients such as protein and micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals. It is low in added sugars, sodium, saturated fats and trans fats. A healthy diet supports a balanced gut by feeding the good bacteria in your digestive tract.

SUNBURY — The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank announced recently that it had distributed more than one million pounds of healthy food in the Sunbury area funded by a grant from the Community Giving Foundation: Sunbury.

“Grants like this one from the Community Giving Foundation: Sunbury are what fuels our ability to meet our mission of fighting hunger, improving lives, and strengthening communities,” said Jennifer Powell, Central Pennsylvania Food Bank’s Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer.

“Investments like this from the Sunbury community are used to source fresh produce and other healthy meals for neighbors in need in Sunbury,” she added.

The $9,000 grant was used to provide 225,000 pounds of produce to more than 7,000 Sunbury neighbors, a total of 3,000 households.

The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank works with 41 partner agencies in the Community Giving Foundation: Sunbury service territory, including The Salvation Army: Sunbury, Grace Works, Restoration Ministries Church, and Loaves and Fishes. Through these partners, the food bank distributes more than one million pounds of fresh, healthy food to neighbors there each year.

Northumberland County has a 12.4% food insecurity rate against the statewide rate of 10%. There are 11,340 food insecure people, including 3,190 children. The county has a child food insecurity rate of 17.8%. The USDA defines food insecurity as the lack of access or uncertainty of access to adequate food needed for an active, healthy life.

The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank has undertaken a county-by-county hunger mapping initiative. Check out the groundbreaking report and recommendations made in August by the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank after its in-depth hunger mapping research in Lancaster County. Similar work will get underway in Snyder, Northumberland, Montour, and Columbia counties next year. This work provides communities with the data and roadmaps needed to address the barriers to healthy meals for neighbors and understand the connection between hunger and the “upstream” issues of historic marginalization, housing insecurity, financial exclusion, and low and irregular pay.

For more information on the Community Giving Foundation, visit csgiving.org or call 570-752-3930. For more information on the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, visit centralpafoodbank.org or call 717-564-1700.

Source: dailyitem.com