March is National Nutrition Month: Food connects neighbors to the Food Bank

March 10, 2025

We see the faces of our neighbors who live with food insecurity. They are the people who visit our Healthy Pantry Centers, who wait inside their cars at a mobile pantry site, or who request a bag of food from a community partner agency. While their faces may conceal emotions, it’s not uncommon for them to express shame or embarrassment.

“This is my first time here,” someone might say. Or another neighbor might be more direct: “My pocketbook can’t handle a trip to the grocery store.”

March is National Nutrition Month, and as a food source for the most vulnerable neighbors, we know – and so do our neighbors – that food can be medicine and that food connects us. “Food Connects Us” is the theme for this year’s National Nutrition Month.

Take Julia – not her real name — for an example, a neighbor waiting her turn to shop in our Milford Healthy Pantry Center. At age 77, she’s retired, but her income doesn’t cover expenses – including the cost of groceries. On the day she visits the pantry, she is hoping there will be some meat available in addition to beans, pasta, and canned vegetables.

Julia is familiar with some of the services we provide, and notes she has considered signing up for the senior meal box. Just then, a volunteer calls her name and welcomes her into the pantry.

Our Community Nutrition Director Leah Brown, MS, RDN, LDN, recognizes that people living with food insecurity are more at risk for chronic health issues, such as diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. “We are in the middle of developing a food-as-medicine strategy,” Brown said.

She notes that with a team of community nutrition educators, some pieces are already in place: “We talk to neighbors to help them connect with food, to learn cooking and meal planning,” she said. “We do outreach and nutrition education with early childhood centers, seniors and adults through our network of partners, to help set neighbors up for success. Our educators teach food resource management – how to stretch food dollars and increase the intake of nutritionally beneficial food.”

Brown realizes that for some it can be challenging to create an appealing and nutritious meal starting with a bag of dried beans as a protein source. “Our community nutrition educators teach best practices for planning a meal and spending less while eating better. The team also provides easy-to-follow recipes to enhance foods the neighbors may be unfamiliar with or are looking for an exciting new way to try. And we hope our efforts will change lifestyles and preserve health,” she said.

Whether it be through providing nutrition education, SNAP application assistance, WIC outreach, mobile pantries, meal boxes, Healthy Pantry Centers, fresh produce from our 5-acre farm in Newark and 3-acre garden in Milford, or the opportunity to connect to with where food comes from by volunteering; at the Food Bank it is our mission to connect neighbors with food, and in turn food connects all of us.