Healthy Food Policy

Healthy Food Policy

Second Harvest Foodbank exists to end hunger in southwestern Wisconsin. To best serve our guests, we must approach our mission as providing food not only to end hunger, but also to promote and protect health to give guests the opportunity to pursue physically, financially, and emotionally healthy lives. Healthy food can help to prevent – as well as manage – the chronic illnesses that are highly prevalent in the communities that we serve. Research has shown that poor nutrition significantly contributes to chronic diet-related diseases such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. Therefore, Second Harvest is increasing our focus beyond the quantity of food distributed to also consider the nutritional quality of the food that we provide and providing education to help our guests make healthy choices.

Efforts will focus on the following areas:

• Increase distribution of nutritious foods including fresh, frozen, and canned fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains
• Increase enrollment in FoodShare Program, the number one way to help families access food and reduce poverty
• Work with Second Harvest partner agencies to increase their capacity to distribute more healthy food and educate clients on how to eat nutritiously
• Continue and expand child hunger programs to provide nutritious food to food-insecure children
• Provide food and nutrition education resources to serve guests managing diet-related chronic diseases
• Partner with health care providers to screen patients for food insecurity and connect people in need with food resources such as FoodShare, food pantries, meal sites, and other social services

This policy will be reviewed and updated as needed every three years.