Great Plains Food Bank Announces Ending Hunger 2.0 Initiative

Great Plains Food Bank partners with Sanford Hospital

FARGO, N.D.– Ending Hunger 2.0 is the Great Plains Food Bank’s newest initiative.

They’re doing more than just providing food, but tackling other issues as well. This program is the first of its kind in the country.

“We stopped and said, ‘if we’re truly going to end hunger, we know that food boxes are just a band–aid solution.’ What we really wanted to do is look at it holistically, and that’s really a national trend with food banks. We need to do a little more than just food,” said Melissa Sobolik, director of Ending Hunger 2.0.

The food bank is teaming up with Sanford Hospital to help provide healthy meal plans for expectant mothers.

“Some women don’t have a place to live. They don’t have a place to go home to. So those are the women we really want to make sure have food available to take care of themselves and the baby,” said Elise Eggiman, a RN birth designer. “Some of those patients come in and they hide it really well. And then asking questions and digging in a bit further we realize there is a larger need.”

With this partnership, pregnant women who qualify will receive bags filled with nutritious food.

Sanford plans to serve 80 women a month, and can connect them with other resources like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP can help with food preparation education as well.

“They show up at the pantry and then the pantry clients don’t know what to do with them. So we do a lot of work there, even just how to cut a sweet potato or what to do with corn. So that’s something we’re doing more and more of as fresh produce shows up at the pantry,” said Megan Ditterick, SNAP-ed Coordinator.

The average time people stay on SNAP is 7 months before they can get back on their feet again.

Great Plains Food Bank considers Ending Hunger 2.0 to be the third major chapter in its 35-year history.