4/29/2024 –
Eating your greens can be a chore, but for many families, it’s also a financial burden. A program that treats “food as medicine” hopes to change that by helping families buy more fruits and vegetables to combat malnutrition, obesity and associated health issues along the way.
Led by No Kid Hungry, a Washington D.C.-based campaign with the goal of fighting childhood hunger, and funded through a USDA grant, the Fresh Connect program distributes pre-loaded debit cards to eligible families that they can use to purchase produce at grocery stores and farmers markets. Following a two year pilot on the Northshore, the program is now expanding to Acadia, Lafayette and St. Landry parishes.
To be eligible, families have to live in one of the selected parishes and have at least one child who’s enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program. “When kids have access to healthy foods, they have better health outcomes,” said Sarah Mills, manager of health strategies with Share Our Strength, the nonprofit behind the No Kid Hungry campaign…
