Food Finders joins Partnership for a Healthier America’s Healthy Hunger Relief Initiative

Food Finders Food Bank has joined the Partnership for a Healthier America’s (PHA) Healthy Hunger Relief initiative to further uplift the health and well-being of North Central Indiana. Food Finders will work with PHA, the national nonprofit organization fighting for food equity formed in conjunction with former First Lady Michelle Obama, to address hunger, malnutrition, and chronic disease by increasing the supply of healthier options and decreasing the supply of unhealthy options.

“PHA’s Healthy Hunger Relief partners serve as the foundation of our mission to transform the food landscape in pursuit of food equity,” said Nancy E. Roman, President & CEO of Partnership for a Healthier America. “Through our work together, we’re ensuring that communities and families all across the country have access to healthier, high-quality, culturally relevant, and nutritious foods.”

Food Finders, along with 29 other new Healthy Hunger Relief partners, will receive support from PHA to implement a comprehensive nutrition ranking system, developed by experts at Healthy Eating Research, over the next two years. In addition, PHA will provide technical assistance to help partners understand the nutritional quality of their inventory and make strategic decisions within and across food categories to improve nutritional quality, enhancing food equity for the communities they serve.

Food Finders has received $70,000 in grant funding from PHA to establish the foundation needed to implement a nutrition ranking system and to support the distribution of nutritionally dense fresh produce.

“Food Finders has been working for years to improve the nutritional quality of the food we distribute. With the funds and support from PHA we will take a giant step forward,” says Katy Bunder, President/CEO of Food Finders. “Not only will we be able to purchase healthier food, we will implement a ranking system that enables our staff and customers to quickly evaluate the nutritional value of the food in our warehouse and Fresh Market.”

PHA’s Healthy Hunger Relief initiative currently works with 28 partners, reaches more than 7 million Americans, and has introduced 115 million pounds of healthy food into the emergency food system, while removing 19 million pounds of low nutrition food. By welcoming 30 new partners to the program like Food Finders Food Bank, PHA’s Healthy Hunger Relief work will double in reach and span across 18 states, impacting more than 14 million Americans with good food. PHA’s Healthy Hunger Relief work is now in 30% of all food banks across the country.

PHA made a commitment last month to provide 50 million servings of vegetables, fruits, and legumes to food-insecure families by 2025. PHA’s work with its Healthy Hunger Relief partners is part of this broader effort to meaningfully shift the food supply available in disadvantaged communities as the organization works to improve food equity across the country.