The Berrien Community Foundation has been awarded a $150,000 grant from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund to bolster the new Southwest Michigan Food is Health Collaborative, which seeks to connect Southwest Michigan food producers with food pantries all over the region.
BCF President Lisa Cripps-Downey tells us the collaborative is a partnership of healthcare, hunger relief, agriculture, and community organizations, all working to improve access to healthy food. She says the pause in SNAP benefits late last year highlighted the need for more work to be done.
“We really saw the need for that coordinated local effort that we really had to be nimble as we build a food and health ecosystem,” Cripps-Downey said.
More than 4,500 households access one of Berrien County’s 30-plus food pantries each month. Cripps-Downey says with the support of this grant, the Southwest Michigan Food is Health Collaborative will have the resources it needs to really get off the ground.
“This grant through the Michigan Health Endowment Fund is going to help us do the things that we need to do to make sure that we have the processes in place, that we have the food that we need, that we have the storage, the transportation, to make sure that we are connecting our local agriculture with our food pantries.”
More than 23,000 Berrien County residents are eligible for SNAP benefits, underscoring the help that’s needed in the community. Cripps-Downey says the grant will cover a wide range of expenses.
“Some of it will actually be used to purchase local produce and proteins that would go directly to those pantries. The grant will also be used for strengthening the Nutrition Exchange of Southwest Michigan, which is a collaboration of those pantries along with Meals on Wheels. That Nutrition Exchange is co-led by Meals on Wheels of Southwest Michigan and SBG Health Strategies. So we’re going to make sure we’re strengthening that organization…That’s what really came together, allowing us during the SNAP pause to get food and grant dollars, everything going through the nutrition exchange during the SNAP pause. We were able to use that distribution system really well, and we want to make sure we strengthen that.”
Cripps-Downey says they’ll also use the funds for education and software purchases. She add it will take a wide variety of partners to establish the support network the Southwest Michigan Food is Health Collaborative is seeking to create.
Anyone looking for more information about the Southwest Michigan Food is Health Collaborative can find it at the Berrien Community Foundation’s website.
