Launched in 2011
National Recognition: 2012 Hunger’s Hope Award from Feeding America
Healthy School Pantry is a monthly after-school health fair for children and families, offering nutritious food, cooking demonstration, CalFresh workshops and much more.
Our Healthy School Pantry Program takes an innovative approach to community issues of food insecurity. Each month, the Healthy School Pantry brings nutritious food, food demonstrations, food stamp outreach, health screenings, nutrition and physical education, and gardening instruction to the children at families at a pre-determined local school. Families can only attend if their child attends the school where the Healthy School Pantry is held. To access other food resources, click here.
Participating children and their families leave with a bag of fresh produce and food staples, a recipe for the food received and other resources and tools to help their family make nutritious choices and manage financial situations.
Who is Served?
Children and families.
Program Impact
Located at 4 locations countywide, the Healthy School Pantry Program benefits the community by:
- Elevating the focus of food distribution from hunger to health, from client dependence to community empowerment.
- Uniting a number of healthy lifestyle elements into a health fair format offering food literacy, access to healthy food, physical exercise, support for growing your own food, energy independence with bicycle blenders and games, community health screenings and opportunities for skill-building and community involvement.
- Putting the client group in the driving seat in multiple ways: as people trained to run the program (replacing outside volunteers with peers) and as Nutrition Advisory Committee members (intimately involved in program assessment, focusing upon broader nutrition and community issues).
- Increasing access to food in underserved areas by partnering with low-income schools and community centers.
- Reducing food insecurity during after-school hours.
Healthy School Pantry sites also incorporate physical activities.
Program Sites (5)
Harding Elementary School, El Camino Elementary School, Lompoc High School, McKinley Elementary School and Veteran’s Memorial Park (Santa Maria)
