Impact of Local Food Program on the Seriously Ill Seen as National Model
SAN FRANCISCO -- Project Open Hand has been selected, along with four other U.S. nutrition service providers, to participate in a national study and campaign aimed at raising public awareness about the importance of food in the treatment of serious illnesses.
Funded by the UPS Foundation, the study will gather outcomes from current practices of community-based nutrition organizations, in order to engage wider government, education and private sector support for local food programs serving the chronic and critically ill.
With hunger and "food insecurity" on the rise in this country, national programs like the federal Food Stamp Program are increasingly ineffective, especially in populations with special nutrition needs, such people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, kidney disease, heart disease and diabetes. Nevertheless, studies show that community-based nutrition services, such as those provided by Project Open Hand, can significantly reduce disease complications and related hospitalizations for people battling these conditions. The overall cost of such nutrition programs is modest compared to costs of treating these diseases in their later stages.
Project Open Hand will be part of a consortium of nutrition service providers in Atlanta, the District of Columbia, Minneapolis and New York City participating in this study and campaign, led jointly at the national level by the Association of Nutrition Service Agencies (ANSA) and the Congressional Hunger Center (CHC). The UPS Foundation will contribute a total of $300,000 over three years to the nationwide project, which will result in a Congressional forum and national education campaign titled "Food as Medicine".
Founded by retired San Francisco grandmother Ruth Brinker in 1985 to provide meals for people homebound with AIDS, Project Open Hand has since served over 9 million meals to people living with HIV/AIDS, the homebound critically ill, and to seniors. The agency serves Alameda County as well as San Francisco, and is a model for over 100 nutritional organizations throughout the U.S. and the world.
For more information about the "Food as Medicine" campaign, contact Bob Brenneman, Director of Development and Marketing, at (415) 447-2410 or by email.
