Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida recently announced it received a $75,000 grant from the Morgan Stanley Foundation to provide families with children in Brevard, Lake, Seminole, Osceola, Volusia and Orange counties the ability to choose from available foods or food boxes at its school partnership sites. The funds will provide a unique opportunity for Second Harvest to explore how to incorporate more elements of choice to food distributions at its School Markets Program sites, while still maintaining safety protocols due to the coronavirus pandemic. The choice model provides more healthy options and ensures families have access to foods aligned with their preferences and dietary requirements.
As a result of COVID-19, one in five children may face hunger in Central Florida. Second Harvest, a member of the Feeding America network, is one of 28 member food banks to receive this funding from the Morgan Stanley Foundation. It is projected that this grant will enable Second Harvest to sustain its School Markets Program and expand the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables within the market sites. This program sets up accessible areas in partnering schools where students may freely choose from a variety of snack and meal options for themselves and their families, with no question of eligibility.
“Our School Markets Program fills an important and unique need in the community,” said Derrick Chubbs, President and CEO at Second Harvest. “This program aims to reduce the stigma barrier associated with food insecurity and give teens easy access to the food they need. We’re so grateful to the Morgan Stanley Foundation for helping us meet that need and making programs like this possible.”
Feeding America will support member food banks in identifying appropriate ways to engage families experiencing food insecurity during the reintroduction of the choice model. In addition, it will capture key learnings and identify opportunities to help other member food banks reintroduce elements of choice to their work.
“For 60 years, the Morgan Stanley Foundation has been dedicated to ensuring children received the healthy start to life they deserve – and ensuring they have access to healthy and nutritious food is a crucial part of that commitment,” said Joan Steinberg, Global Head of Philanthropy at Morgan Stanley. “Given the challenges that we’ve seen exacerbated by the pandemic over the past year, we are pleased to build upon our decade long partnership with Feeding America to help fight hunger through this impactful choice model in the communities where we live and work.”
Morgan Stanley has a long-standing commitment to helping communities facing hunger and has donated more than $38 million to the Feeding America network in the last decade.
To learn more about how you can join the fight to end hunger, visit www.FeedHopeNow.org.
