“I learned to take care of myself,” Brenda Grey, a participant in Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s Senior Nutrition program, Food Access and Education for Rural Seniors Living with Type 2 diabetes (FAERS), spoke of her experience. “It became very important to me to eat properly and to take care of myself by meeting my nutritional needs.” According to The North Carolina State Plan on Aging 2019-2023 report, more than 25,000 senior adults in our service area live in poverty, with 63% of senior households served by the Feeding America network forced to choose between paying for food and paying for medical care. At the Food Shuttle, we see this growing need impacting the seniors we serve every day and are working to develop programming initiatives to address those needs, while taking into consideration the unique considerations of the community involved.
The Grocery Bags for Seniors program does just that, with support from Aetna and the Searstone Retirement Community. Every week, Food Shuttle volunteers fill bags with fresh produce, whole grains, milk, and protein, providing up to eight nutritious meals tailored to seniors’ nutritional needs and dietary preferences. Information cards with healthy recipes are also included. We deliver 2,000 bags each month to 30 low-income living communities in Wake, Nash, Edgecombe, and Johnston counties.
We want to supply our seniors with healthy food, but we especially desire to instruct them on a sustainable lifestyle, which led to the development of the pilot program Food Access and Education for Rural Seniors (FAERS) with Type 2 diabetes.
“It changed my eating habits” Brenda continued, recounting how the FAERS program changed her diet, “I am now regularly making carrot smoothies and carrot soups. I had no idea this was an option before.” The FAERS program was established last year thanks to a grant received from Feeding America network donors, including the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation. It was implemented to provide nutritious food and nutrition education to low-income African American and Hispanic seniors with Type 2 diabetes living in Chatham and Johnston counties. Throughout the nine-month program, we delivered bi-monthly food bags and $30 supplemental gift cards each month to each participant. We also provided nutrition education on specific health topics, improving health outcomes. Our aim was to increase outreach to minority seniors to improve the number of meals served and home deliveries.
Brenda finished our conversation, saying “I would like to be a part of this program for as long as I can and would love others to be apart as well.”
The Food Shuttle is always looking for more volunteers to help with packing and delivery of Grocery for Seniors. If you or your group would like to sign up, please visit our website. For more information on FAERS or other Senior Nutrition programming, contact CHE Coordinator Piniel Tadesse at Piniel@FoodShuttle.org.