Kaiser Permanente San Diego Wednesday provided $90,000 grants to the San Diego Food Bank and Feeding America San Diego as part of its Healthy Eating in Hard Times program totaling $465,000 in funding.
Kaiser Permanente recognizes that with the economic downturn, eating healthy is not at the top of the list for everyone. But the Healthy Eating in Hard Times program seeks to ensure that food banks and pantry patrons are able to obtain fresh fruits and vegetables.
The grant recipients will use the funding to purchase more than 100,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables to serve low income residents and for support of the purchase of 40,986 cubic feet of cold storage to increase distribution of fresh produce and perishable foods throughout San Diego County.
“Eating healthy can be a challenge when times are tough,” said Mary Ann Barnes, Senior Vice President and Executive Director of KP San Diego. “We want San Diegans to make the right choices to live active lives so we are providing healthy options for them.”
Kaiser Permanente recognizes the need to support proper nutrition given the growing obesity epidemic in the United States. The Kaiser Permanente grant recipients are all at various stages of changing the way they do business, including increasing their produce distribution, providing nutrition education and encouraging participation in government food programs such as free school meals and CalFresh.
