Food Outreach

Exciting progress on our new freezer! 🎉 Yesterday, the components for our larger blast freezer arrived, and today the amazing team from Surety Refrigeration started the installation. Stay tuned! 🚀❄️

Join Food Outreach Registered Dietitians, Taylor Aarns and Rachel Kleinman, this Friday at 2 PM CST for a nutrition education webinar: "Vitality Beyond HIV: Empowering Nutrition and Wellness Tips." Don’t miss out! 🍎✨

Visit our website for more information: https://foodoutreach.org/nutrition-education-webinars/

August is National Make a Will Month. During this month, we will highlight individuals like Carol Gruen, a past board member of Food Outreach, who have made a planned gift to Food Outreach.

When Carol was invited to visit Food Outreach, her role at a prominent St. Louis bank involved making decisions about the bank’s community engagement. During her tour of Food Outreach with former Executive Director Mark Utterback, Carol quickly became intrigued by our mission. "I was amazed. I had no idea that an organization like Food Outreach existed."

Carol recommended that the bank support our mission through its charitable giving; moreover, Carol “decided to start personally giving to Food Outreach. I knew there were food pantries. But I had never seen anything where the food was actually hand-prepared and cooked for community members in need. I was impressed by the amount of time, care and thought that went into this process as a way to help so many people with HIV and cancer.”

Read more about Carol on our Nourish and Flourish blog: https://foodoutreach.org/carol-gruen-creates-a-planned-gift-to-help-support-food-outreachs-future/

Big changes are happening at Food Outreach! Thanks to Federal ARPA funding from the City of St. Louis, we're upgrading our blast freezer after nearly 25 years of continuous operation! The old unit, which stored more than 8 million meals during its service life, is being replaced with a larger freezer that can hold 40% more meals. This added capacity will allow us to serve additional clients in need of our critical nutrition services.🌟

Today, Food Outreach had the pleasure of welcoming a team of volunteers from Wells Fargo. We are incredibly grateful for your efforts to help us in our mission to provide nutritional support to community members facing food insecurity and a chronic illness. Your support means the world to us—thank you!

Together, we are a community of caring!

🌟 This month’s star seasonal produce: STRAWBERRIES! 🍓 Dive into these juicy berries packed with incredible health benefits, like:

🧠 Boosting brain power
🛡 Strengthening your immune system
❤️ Protecting heart health
🔥 Reducing inflammation
🍬 Managing blood sugar

"Clients of Food Outreach can look forward to a nutritious and delicious delight with these flavorful berries!"

We couldn't achieve our mission at Food Outreach without our amazing volunteers! 🌟 In 2023, 1,705 incredible people—including individuals, families, corporate teams, community partners, and students—donated 20,318 hours to support nearly 2,000 individuals living with HIV and/or cancer. That’s like having 10 extra full-time employees (we only have 17)! Whether you love cooking or organizing groceries, there are so many ways to get involved. Join us and make a difference! 💪❤️

Sign up to volunteer today: https://foodoutreach.org/get-involved/volunteer/

For 36 years, ATA has been the hallmark event of Food Outreach, dedicated to serving our community. This year, we are celebrating with the theme 'Treasure Nutrition.' Thanks to the support of our generous hosts, sponsors, and guests in 2023, we were able to raise funds to provide over 100,000 meals for our clients! We invite you to join us as a Host this year and enjoy an evening of food, drinks, dancing, and more with your guests at:

A Tasteful Affair
“Treasure Nutrition”
Four Seasons – St. Louis
Sunday, October 6, 2 – 5:00 p.m.

Visit our website to purchase a Host package: https://one.bidpal.net/ata36/ticketing(details:ticketing-summary)

Food Outreach and the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis are collaborating to study the impact of Food Is Medicine on diabetes care in the St. Louis region.

Read more on our Nourish and Flourish Blog: https://foodoutreach.org/food-outreach-and-the-brown-school-at-washington-university-in-st-louis-collaborate-to-study-the-impact-of-food-is-medicine-on-diabetes-care/

Chef Vincent whipped up a colorful summer veggie casserole this week! If it tastes as amazing as it smells, Food Outreach clients are in for a nutritious and delicious treat! 🍅🧀🌿

Today is a bittersweet day at Food Outreach as we bid farewell to Keith Mosier. After 29 years of dedicated service in various roles, Keith is retiring. We extend our best wishes for a very happy retirement—he truly deserves it!

If you would like to make a donation in tribute of Keith's 29 years of service, visit our website: https://p2p.onecause.com/keith

Did you know that more community members need Food Outreach's services each year? In 2023, Food Outreach welcomed 592 new clients, a 10% increase over 2022. Moreover, 39% of these individuals were experiencing moderate to severe malnutrition, indicating issues which need to be addressed quickly as nutrition emergencies. Along with this and the many other stressors our clients experience each day, 83% of these individuals live at or below 100% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), or $15,060 in annual income.

Our clients tell us that Food Outreach’s strengths are the nutrition which fuels their bodies and the dependability of our team of volunteers and staff. Our volunteers, alongside Food Outreach’s 17 employees, understand that our bodies must have proper nutrition to work with treatments for improved health. Food Outreach is the only nonprofit in the greater St. Louis region focused on providing nutrition support for people battling nutrition insecurity and a chronic illness.

Together, we are a community of caring!

Today, Food Outreach welcomed a group of volunteers from Enterprise. Thank you so much for your time and service. It's because of volunteers like you that we are able to provide more than 500,000 Medically Tailored Meals to nearly 2,000 individuals living in the St. Louis region.

Together, we are a community of caring!

Did you miss last week's nutrition education webinar? No problem! You can watch all our webinars online whenever it suits you. This month, Food Outreach's registered dietitians Rachel and Taylor provide nutrition tips for those undergoing cancer treatments. You can view "Nourishing Your Body Through Cancer Treatments" on our website anytime.

https://foodoutreach.org/nutrition-education-webinars/

Happy Wellness Wednesday! Remember to stay hydrated as temperatures rise! Check out tips from Food Outreach's Dietetic Intern for staying hydrated in the summer heat.

Looking for a way to help individuals struggling in your community with food insecurity and a chronic illness? Hold a canned food drive! Our clients need healthy shelf staples like canned vegetables, fruit, soup, and dried beans.

Visit our website for more information, including a guideline for donated items: https://foodoutreach.org/food-donations/

At Food Outreach, we often receive inquiries about how clients discover our services. For those living with HIV, we are integrated into the comprehensive Ryan White case management network. As for our courageous clients fighting cancer, we collaborate with all major healthcare systems in the region. SSM Health is our largest referral partner, contributing 35% of our referrals, followed by BJC HealthCare at 31%, and Mercy at 17%. Additionally, we receive 5% of our referrals from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and other community organizations like Gateway to Hope. Thanks to these partnerships, we are able to support nearly 2,000 clients annually.

To find out more about becoming a Food Outreach client, please visit our website:

Arrrr you ready for some seriously good food and drinks?!? At Food Outreach's annual event, A Tasteful Affair, you can sample food and drinks from a variety of local culinary and beverage partners. This years event will be on Sunday, October 6 from 2 to 5 PM at the Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis.

There's a reason we named our event a "Tasteful" affair!

Learn more about this A Tasteful Affair: https://one.bidpal.net/ata36/welcome

During this year's Prime Day, add a microwave to your cart for a Food Outreach client in need! At intake, our registered dietitians always ask our clients if they have the ability to heat up their food at home and many times their answer is no. Please help us with our backlog by donating a microwave today!

Check out our Amazon wish list: https://a.co/ccdYfoS

Our friends at ABB recently held a canned food drive for Food Outreach during Pride Month. Employees at their St. Louis manufacturing facility collected more than 390 pounds of food for us! They worked hard to gather healthy items that we could immediately incorporate into our grocery center. ABB Foundation is matching their employees' generosity by donating $1 for every can! Thank you, ABB!

Together, we are a community of caring!

It's true! We have the BEST volunteers! Visit our website to sign up to volunteer with us today!

https://foodoutreach.org/get-involved/volunteer/

Together, we are a community of caring!

Be inspired by our fantastic partners at Food Outreach!
Connect with your local food pantry or food bank and discover how you can help. Your involvement can make a huge difference! 🩵

We're hiring! Join Food Outreach's team! We are excited to welcome new team members whose compensation will include platinum health benefits at no cost to the employee, 10 paid holidays, paid vacation and sick time, family medical leave, and employee/employer-contribution retirement plans.

Learn more: https://foodoutreach.org/job-openings/

This week, Food Outreach welcomed a group of volunteers from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Thank you immensely for your support and service! Volunteers are our key asset in achieving our mission to offer nutritional assistance, including Medically Tailored Meals, to individuals in our community who are facing food insecurity and chronic illness.

Together, we are a community of caring!

Happy Wellness Wednesday! Blueberries are the fresh seasonal produce of the month! Small but mighty, blueberries are packed with nutrients. A true superfood, they help lower blood pressure, prevent heart disease, improve memory, aid in exercise recovery, and more.

Although blueberries are tasty by themselves, they also complement salads, yogurt, and desserts wonderfully.

Your support plays a vital role in Food Outreach's efforts to broaden our impact and offer increased access to essential services. We know through the testimony of our clients that your support makes a significant difference in their lives.

For clients like Nathan, a disabled veteran living with an amputation, our home delivery program relieves the stress and difficult logistics of navigating the public transportation system. Before enrolling in the home delivery service, Nathan had to take two buses and two trolleys to get to Food Outreach’s midtown location. “I was going to get food. Luke, Food Outreach’s client services manager, saw me, an old man coming in on a broken-down scooter during the wintertime. You know, it’s bad when snails are passing you, and he said let us bring you your meals.”

Read more about Nathan and Food Outreach's impact: https://p2p.onecause.com/spring

Looking to learn more about nutrition? Food Outreach's registered dietitians host monthly nutrition webinars. This month's webinar, "Nourishing Your Body Through Cancer Treatments," will be held on Friday, July 19.

And don't worry if you can't attend, all webinars are posted on our website:
https://foodoutreach.org/nutrition-education-webinars/

This July, Keith Mosier will retire after 29 years with Food Outreach! He has been (and still is) an essential member of the Food Outreach team. He started at Food Outreach in 1995 as the administrative assistant to the executive director and now works as the office manager.

“It’s a great place to be. Serving our clients has always been very special to me. I think we do a really, really great job of serving our clients’ needs and it’s always been a very fulfilling job. If I ever have questions about what we are doing or why we’re here, all I have to do is just walk into the lobby on a busy day and see the people that we’re serving and that just puts everything into perspective.”

If you would like to make a donation in tribute to Keith's 29 years of service, visit our website: https://p2p.onecause.com/keith