That each of them may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. – Ecclesiastes 3:13
Grace Medical Home understands that holistic health care means doing whatever we can to care for and to support our patients. A healthy diet builds the framework of a healthy lifestyle, yet many of our patients and their families suffer from food insecurity, unable to regularly access healthy food. The challenges of the past year further exacerbated many of their already tenuous situations. “Over 40 percent of people sought food coverage during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Karen Broussard, Chief Community Impact Officer of Second Harvest Food Bank.
Food is Medicine began three years ago in partnership with the Second Harvest Food Bank and the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation to provide healthy food boxes to our pediatric patients. Thanks to a generous grant from Orlando Health, Grace Medical Home is expanding as an official closed food pantry through the Second Harvest Food Bank, providing healthy food bags to eligible adult patients at Grace. Food bags include proteins, healthy grains/oats and fresh fruits and vegetables.
Once enrolled in the program, in addition to receiving healthy food, patients will have continuous check-ins with our nutrition and social services teams to provide healthy food tips and additional ongoing support. “Nine families were grateful to benefit from the inaugural run of the drive-through food pick-up. We look forward to growing the program to distribute food weekly,” said Ana Girao, Grace’s Registered Dietitian.
Volunteer groups are needed every other Thursday from 8:30 am - 12 pm to go to Second Harvest Food Bank to shop and bring food back to Grace to sort (4 volunteers) and every other Friday, 8:30 – 12 pm to distribute the food boxes in Grace’s parking lot (8 volunteers.)
To sign up your volunteer group to assist, contact Ana Girao at agirao@gracemedicalhome.org.
