Even with visits to the local pantry, many families struggle to get enough to eat, as writer Tamara Gane knows first-hand. Food banks say rethinking our donations could help them stretch their money.
D.C'.s Capital Area Food Bank is part of a growing trend to move toward healthier options in food assistance, because many in the population it serves suffer from high blood pressure and diabetes.
Health care forms increasingly ask about more than just medical history. That's because doctors are beginning to understand that patients' stress, and how and where they live, influence health, too.
Normally, food banks distribute donated food to the hungry. But Rochester, NY, food bank Foodlink, is going beyond that to provide fresh foods to poor communities and jobs to boost the local economy.
Pantries in southwest Virginia — where poverty is rampant and coal jobs are vanishing — will take whatever they can get to stock bare shelves. Some also offer help with health care and job training.
Food banks are increasingly saying no to cakes, holiday candy and other junk food donations. But some schools are sending them healthier donations by salvaging uneaten foods in their cafeterias.
Simply shuffling the shelves may be a powerful way to help those living in poverty choose healthier options, a nationwide study of food banks suggests.
Fresh fruits and vegetables can be hard to come by for low-income people who rely on food pantries. So some aid programs are now handing out seeds and plants and teaching clients to grow their own.
About 340,000 people or 16 percent of the population in Southern Nevada are considered food insecure.
Often, these people come from middle class backgrounds
