SEMO Food Bank receives grant for study, pilot program

Southeast Missouri Food Bank in Sikeston, Missouri, has received a grant from Feeding America that will cover the cost of monthly mobile food distributions in Scott County and other nearby counties through April, a study on how well the food bank’s services are doing, a new staff member, and a pilot program to improve access to healthy foods, according to a news release sent Monday.

“This is one of those omnibus types of grants that allows us to examine and improve our services on a variety of different fronts,” Food Bank president and CEO Joey Keys said in the release. “It’s easy to get caught up in the demands of day-to-day operations and making sure we’re acquiring enough food and distributing it appropriately to meet the needs in each community. Opportunities like this force us to take a step back and really dissect and evaluate our operations to make sure we’re efficient and that we’re providing equitable access to all communities.”

Monthly mobile food distributions in Scott County will be covered through April under the grant, as will distributions in Mississippi, New Madrid, Dunklin and Pemiscot Counties, the release stated. Those counties have some of the highest rates of hunger in the state — 26.4% in Pemiscot County overall, whereas Cape Girardeau County has a 17.6% rate.

Another aspect of the grant included funding focus groups to determine program effectiveness.

The pilot program between the food bank and SEMO Health Network, a federally qualified health center, will identify patients in five counties with chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, that can be improved with appropriate diet changes. The food bank will provide a monthly box of fresh produce and lean protein to the patients; and weight, blood pressure and blood glucose levels will be monitored over a six-month period for improvements in health.

“It’s hard for people on a fixed income to afford fresh produce and lean protein on a regular basis. It’s expensive for the food bank to acquire too, so we certainly wouldn’t be able to do this without a funding source,” Keys said in the release.

Jackson resident Neisha Ivory is in a newly created position — equity and programs coordinator — to oversee projects related to the grant. Formerly a benefits coordinator at SoutheastHEALTH in Cape Girardeau, Ivory will complete a bachelor’s degree in human resources/organizational business in December, the release stated.

More information is at www.semofoodbank.org.