New Braunfels Food Bank
Food Bank are key community resources where affected households access foods, oftentimes on a regular basis. This study underscores the importance of food systems reform to improve the health of vulnerable populations. Specifically, we explored how food bank executives perceive the charitable food sector’s evolution from hunger-alleviation to additionally include health-focused initiatives.
However, the government backtracked earlier this month and said it would now provide the meal over the winter holidays.
the charitable food system is vital for food access for vulnerable people in nearly every community in the United States. The vast majority of individuals and families accessing food pantries and other charitable food programs are food insecure, meaning that there is a limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods. Food insecurity is related to poor nutrition and many other negative health outcomes. Some of these health outcomes include poor physical, cognitive and socioemotional development among children and chronic health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, among adults.
Thus, New Braunfels food banks are important in addressing community health disparities through the foods and related services that they provide. Supporting food banks to assess and respond to population health needs is in the best interest of the healthcare, educational, economic, and social sectors.
The “Foodbanking Research to Enhance the Spread of Healthy Foods” (FRESH-Foods) Study was conducted to identify nutrition-related opportunities, challenges, and programmatic priorities of US food banks, as well as to explore food bank leadership perspectives on the role of their organizations in population health. The study included semi-structured interviews with 30 food bank executives who represented a wide range of food banks from across the US. Interviews were conducted between April 2015 and January 2017. Executives shared their perspectives on the evolving role of food banks in community health, including their own organization’s experiences in working to distribute healthier foods.
Methods
We interviewed executive directors or chief executive officers representing 30 food banks that were all members of the largest US network of hunger relief organizations (Feeding America). Food banks were selected to help maximize the diversity of food banks in the sample, including balanced representation from food banks with various levels of fruit and vegetable distribution, community resources, and state-level availability of fruits and vegetables. Transcripts of the interviews were then analyzed separately by two researchers for major themes.
