(INDIANAPOLIS) – The Indianapolis Urban League is expanding its food box program to get people healthier food.
The Urban League began a drive-thru food-box program in partnership with Gleaners Food Bank last spring, near the start of the pandemic lockdown. That program, distributing packaged food, continues. But last month, the Urban League added a second box, stocked with 20 pounds of fresh produce.
The “Good Food for All” program is an initiative of the national nonprofit Partnership for a Healthier America. Indy and Fort Wayne are among 17 cities nationwide receiving the boxes.
Urban League health and wellness director Janet Kamiri says the Urban League is handing out 150 fruit-and-vegetable boxes a week at its downtown headquarters, some to families and some to churches and other groups for redistribution in their communities.
A lack of fruits and vegetables has been the center of Indy’s efforts to address “food deserts,” neighborhoods without nearby access to non-packaged food.
The Good Food for All program runs through the end of September. Kamiri says it’s undetermined what happens after that.
