North Carolina food banks are making some changes. A network of organizations across the state that collectively serve about 100,000 meals a week has decided to try to serve more nutritious foods.
Right now, the most cost-effective way for members of the North Carolina Association of Feeding America Foodbanks to help people is with mostly pre-packaged products: canned veggies, processed meals, and staples like peanut butter and cheese. But in a new state-funded initiative, they’re going to work with farmers across to the state to try to augment those meals with fresh produce.
North Carolina has a shocking number of hungry citizens. The article explains that in our state, “one in six adults and one in five children under the age of 18 has inadequate access to food.” That’s unacceptable.
It’s also a healthcare cost concern. Alan Briggs, Executive Director of the program, explains that about half of all North Carolinians are obese or overweight, and that this increases health issues like diabetes — an expensive disease to treat. This in turn increases cost to the system. So in other words...ensuring access to healthy food is one way to decrease health costs for all of us.
We think that access to healthy food for all North Carolinians is vital, and we couldn’t applaud these efforts more. And be sure to thank a NC Farmer!
You can read more about the food banks’ efforts here.
We’re all for reducing hunger in NC — and we’re also all about reducing healthcare costs for all of us. Want to hear more regularly about issues that affect your health and fiscal health? Sign up for our email updates. We’ll let you know about issues and legislation that affect YOUR life.
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