Supporting access to nutritious food Food insecurity re-emerged as an urgent concern during 2020. The pandemic and its effect on the economy disrupted access to food for people across our service area, while social unrest in late May and early June compounded the problem in Minneapolis and St. Paul. For all of these reasons, some of our most vulnerable neighbors were more likely to suffer from food insecurity. Through our close connections in the nonprofit community, Medica and the Medica Foundation were able to respond quickly. We provided a total of $675,000 to 52 nonprofits that worked to prevent hunger and reduce disparities in food access.
Home delivery Open Arms of Minnesota is a nonprofit that prepares medically tailored meals for people with life-threatening illnesses and delivers those meals to its clients’ homes. All of Open Arms’ clients have compromised immune systems that made themmore susceptible to the pandemic, and a third of themwere directly impacted by the social unrest. Impact: We provided $25,000 in funding to help Open Arms meet its clients’ dietary needs and respond to a 40% increase in demand for its meals during the pandemic.
Helping neighbors
Cultural preferences Community Emergency Service Inc. (CES) is a Minneapolis food shelf and home-delivery program that serves refugees, immigrants, homebound seniors, and adults with disabilities. Eighty percent of its clients identify as people of color, primarily Black and Hispanic. Impact: CES used our $10,000 crisis- relief grant to buy and distribute more than 2,300 pounds of culturally preferred lean meats, poultry, and seafood, including lamb, goat, tilapia, and chicken. Demand for its services more than doubled during the pandemic.
Food Bank for the Heartland is an Omaha-based nonprofit that supplies more than 550 food pantries, meal providers, schools, churches, and hunger-relief organizations in Iowa and Nebraska. Impact: We provided a $10,000 crisis- relief grant that enabled Food Bank for the Heartland to deploy mobile pantries for safe, contact-free food distribution during the pandemic. It experienced a 72% increase in meals served during 2020 compared to 2018.
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