Health and Nutrition
Access to nutritious food is critical for overall health and preventing conditions like heart disease and diabetes.
Golden Harvest Food Bank is working to help families improve their health outcomes by:
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Distributing a nutritious mix of culturally preferred foods.
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Supporting partner organizations in promoting healthy food choices.
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Forging health partnerships to connect people to other resources.
NOURISH is Golden Harvest Food Bank’s clinic-based nutrition partnership.
This program is designed to connect patients experiencing food insecurity with healthy food and support at the point of care.
The program began in 2020 through a partnership with an Augusta clinic that introduced a food insecurity screener as part of patient care. When a patient screened positive, that information was shared with case managers, who then connected them with nearby pantries, SNAP information, and other available support from Golden Harvest.
Follow-up research showed that referrals alone were not always enough. Barriers such as transportation and other challenges often prevented people from accessing help after they left the clinic. Based on those findings, clinic staff identified on-site food distribution as a more effective way to connect patients with the support they needed.
In response, Golden Harvest began providing pre-packed boxes of nutritious food directly to the clinic. Staff shared how many patients were screened and how many screened positive for food insecurity, and each person identified as food insecure received food on site.
The program has also evolved to better align with clinic standards. Current food boxes are sourced using healthy eating research guidelines, and every item is ranked green, meaning the foods are lower in saturated fat, sugar, and sodium.
NOURISH reflects an important truth: food insecurity has a direct impact on health. By connecting nutritious food with health care services, Golden Harvest is helping improve access, reduce barriers, and support healthier outcomes for our neighbors.
Supporting Wellness at Pantries (SWAP) is designed to promote the donation and selection of nutritious foods throughout the charitable food system.
The program is based on the theory that categorizing food using simple, intuitive labels and communicating this information at each decision point while food travels through the system (donor, food bank, food pantry, & client) has the potential to transform the policy, systems, and environment of food banks and food pantries.
SWAP consists of a suite of tools for food banks and food pantries to rank their inventory using a traffic light nutrition system. SWAP aligns with the Healthy Eating Research (HER) Nutrition Guidelines for the Charitable Food System.
These guidelines place foods into 11 categories and assign green=choose often; yellow=choose sometimes; and red=choose rarely based on levels of saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars. SWAP can be used as an intervention in multiple levels of the charitable food system to promote food justice and health equity.
We believe that informed choices lead to healthier lives. Therefore, we use SWAP to provide nutrition rankings of food inventory to enable Hunger Relief Partners to make informed selections for their guests.
Our recipe library helps neighbors transform pantry staples into nourishing dishes. The library features a diverse collection of recipes that embrace affordability, simplicity, and flavor. (Click individual items to view informative PDF)
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