Foundation Advances Healthy Food Access in Southeastern Ohio

As part of its Healthy Food Access Initiative, the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation of Nelsonville (OHFN) has approved continued support for efforts designed to measurably increase the accessibility, affordability and consumption of healthy foods by low-income, vulnerable populations in southeast Ohio.

Since 2012, OHFN has approved over $900,000 in investments focused on supporting local efforts to increase the supply of healthy foods from area farmers into local markets, including schools and the food pantry system; building capacity and infrastructure to process, aggregate and store increased amounts of healthy foods; and expanding distribution to meet the growing needs of food insecure families. In March, the Foundation approved support to local organizations meeting these goals, including:

• $229,905 for the Athens County Food Partners, a collaboration of ACEnet, Community Food Initiatives and Rural Action
• $32,500 for Bounty in the Pantries 2017

“Support for these efforts has yielded impressive outcomes, from improving regional capacity to grow, process and distribute healthy foods, to increasing the availability, affordability and consumption of these foods by thousands of food insecure children and families,” said Susan Beaudry, director of programs for the Foundation.