Health Partnerships
While delivering food is central to our mission, so is supporting healthy and positive lifestyles through programs that provide nutrition education, medical screenings, and regular access to healthy foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains and dairy. Last year, CFBNJ delivered nearly 35 million pounds of fresh produce- about 31% of the total food distributed for the year.
Our Health Partnerships are Growing Healthy Pantries, Diabetes Initiative and Hospital programs. Your organization could help make an impact on how we combat hunger as a health issue.
Nutrition Policy
In alignment with CFBNJ’s 2024-2027 strategic plan, we have developed an organization-wide nutrition policy that will serve as a formal written tool to ensure clear communication with our stakeholders- including our staff, network partners, neighbors, food suppliers and donors- about our intentions and decision making. It is our commitment to provide food that supports community health.
The three pillars of the nutrition policy are nutritional value, cultural and health considerations, and food preferences. The goal of the policy will be to increase the number of neighbors showing satisfaction with available food choices and/or showing improved health outcomes.
Growing Healthy Pantries
Funded by the Horizon Foundation for New Jersey and Feeding America, the Growing Healthy Pantries Initiative is a partnership between the state’s five food banks (CFBNJ, Food Bank of South Jersey, Fulfill, Mercer Street Friends and Norwescap) to help our pantry partners become spaces that distribute nourishing food and have a positive impact on individual and community health.
We are working together to develop a toolkit of best practices to support our network pantry partners as they work towards becoming healthier, more nourishing, and dignified spaces. The toolkit will include how tos and resources for pantries of every size and include a range of strategies from simple to complex, depending on the capacity of the pantry.
Staff from the state’s five food banks will be available to provide technical assistance to our pantry partners as we work to implement the toolkit best practices in the years to come.
“A healthier New Jersey starts with good and healthy food. The tens of thousands of New Jerseyans who rely on the nearly 1,000 food pantries across the state that are served by these five food banks will now have new resources, information, and tools to help them become healthier and more food secure. This is truly an example of a partnership in which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Through Growing Healthy Pantries, we are bringing together the organizations that have been at the forefront of feeding New Jersey and New Jersey’s largest and most trusted health insurer to magnify the impact we have, improve food security, and promote greater health equity.”
JONATHAN R. PEARSON, HORIZON’S DIRECTOR OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE HORIZON FOUNDATION FOR NEW JERSEY
Diabetes Initiative
Food Health Hope (FHH): An Answer to Diabetes
In partnership with Summit Health Cares, we provide neighbors with chronic conditions like diabetes, prediabetes and hypertension free health screenings, diabetes friendly food, and nutrition education at several partner agency sites.
Partnership with Diabetes Foundation
We collaborate with the Diabetes Foundation to bring CFBNJ’s services, including diabetes-friendly food and access to SNAP application assistance, to partners in New Jersey.
Last year, we provided 6,900 nonperishable diabetes food and produce boxes.
Medically Tailored Meals
For the Trinitas Medical Center Care Transitions Program, Food Service Training Academy students prepare a five-day menu of heart-healthy, medically tailored meals for low-income seniors after they are discharged from the hospital.
Hospital Partnerships
Trinitas Medical Center Care Transitions Program
Food Service Training Academy students (FSTA) prepare a five-day menu of heart-healthy, medically tailored meals for low-income seniors after they are discharged from the hospital.
Women’s Wellness Pantry at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center
After years of providing summer meals for kids, nutrition education, and SNAP application assistance, we opened the onsite Women’s Wellness Pantry. Located at the hospital’s Rev. Dr. Ronald B. Christian Community Health and Wellness Center, it serves patients from the Women’s Health Center with nourishing food, nutrition education and other resources. We’ve worked with RWJBarnabas Health facilities to open an onsite pantry in New Brunswick, and we’re working on another at the Federally Qualified Health Center in Newark.
Pantry at the Plex with AtlantiCare
This onsite food pantry is located in downtown Atlantic City that serves both patients and the broader community. Neighbors are invited to choose the foods they want to take home and can be connected directly to health care providers including social workers and dietitians.
Contact Our Programs
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