The purpose of this grant is to provide nutritious food for youth within the Guilford County Sector who may not have access to food due to food desserts, food insecurity, and who would like to learn a new skill for sustainable living. We provide support by offering educational hands-on cooking classes, access to a sustainable garden, and a nutritious meal through our MLTB Meals from the Heart Program. Classes would be no cost to families, and at the end of the class students get to take home food to share with their families. Cooking brings families together, and the joy of cooking opens up doors of creativity.

The grant will be used to purchase client management software and hardware necessary to track client data. A computerized database will speed delivery, ensure the accuracy and coordination of COAT’s limited resources, and provide sustainable, consistent, and convenient service. The database would also immediately provide timely information about a client’s needs and any food restrictions – especially where there are diet restrictions (such as allergies) or personal preparation limitation – the database will help accommodate those special needs. The technology can also assist with referrals to other social service recommendations for additional help with health, safety and shelter needs.

Phase Two of their program is a highly requested learning experience. The goal is to help eliminate food waste as well as save money by educating the community on proper ways to store and preserve the food they purchase or grow. The grant will be used to purchase food preservation equipment as a one-time expense. Also food preservation materials such as canning jars, food bags, cookware, etc. Green Thumb Squad has formulated a 12-week food preservation program that will be hands-on, as well as virtual. This will increase the sustainability of not only the garden club, but many households in the community.

The grant will help supply organic soil and plants for the community garden boxes already established at the JM Green Tiny House Community located on Hay Street and create the boxes with the organic soil and plants at the Smith Street Veteran Tiny House Community. The desire is to hire a part-time gardener/instructor to help educate the residents on the skills of gardening and how to maintain it throughout the growing season so it can last into the future planting seasons.

Each week at the High Point Farmer’s Market, children aged 4-12 receive three (3) $1 tokens to spend on fresh fruits and vegetables with participating vendors. Children also receive educational and craft materials about how to choose healthy foods, how to grow healthy foods, how to cook healthy foods, and financial literacy. The Power of Produce (PoP) Club engages children at farmer’s markets and empowers them to make healthy food choices.

To expand their impact at Parkview Village Elementary School beyond the monthly recurring Fresh Mobile Market by adding a nutrition education program called Kids’ Kafe. This initiative builds on their current food assistance service by equipping families with the skills, tools, resources, and confidence to prepare healthy, budget-friendly meals by providing interactive cooking classes, ingredient kits, and easy-to-use kitchen tools to take home to make learning accessible, fun, practical, and engaging. Each attendee will receive a food-themed workbook containing kid-friendly recipes, activities, and nutrition tips.

The purpose of this grant is to extend our monthly feeding program and augment our food box distribution program. The funding will assist in purchasing a commercial food warmer that will be more cost effective, and it will allow us to offer a better variety of hot, nutritious foods, plates, cups, and eatery. Funding will assist in expanding our food area with racks and shelving. We are partnering with NC Cooperative Extension with financial literacy and nutrition classes. There will also be an interesting nutritious fact on the plate lids. We are taking steps to implement healthy living in the meals we are serving -- using wheat instead of white, fruit instead of sweets, waters and light beverages instead of sodas. Everyone that comes will receive a flyer of the upcoming financial literacy/nutrition classes. As we serve and connect with our participants we will extend personal invites to the classes.

This grant would allow Open Door Ministries Arthur Cassell Memorial House for Veterans to begin usage of their raised garden, and allow residents who are in this program, and transitioning out of homelessness, to learn the importance of sustainable food sources, garden projects, teamwork, and more!

Hopefulls works to meet the needs of elementary children who go home from school with little to no food provided for their dinner. The weeknight meal program aims to fill the gap that hungry children are facing by cooking, packaging, and delivering weeknight meals directly to local elementary schools so that the children who need them can simply place them in their bookbags and take them home with them. Hopefulls currently serves 8 elementary schools and are hoping to expand to a total of 10 elementary schools for the 2025-2026 school year. In order to complete this expansion, they need to purchase an additional freezer so they can properly store the kids’ meals each week.

The purpose of the grant would be to increase the number of elderly and disabled people able to secure food through home deliveries and provide nourishing produce and household paper supplies by enabling Helping Hands to hire an additional driver who would work 2 days a week, 10 hours per week in total. The new driver will be delivering to approximately 42 new clients. Through this work we will increase access to healthy food items, recipe cards, and educational health pamphlets.

To continue the work funded by the Food Security Grant 2024 and in the establishment of Growing High Point’s (GHP) Food Hub, GHP will use the 2025 FSF Grant to build capacity to expand Food Hub operations and extend land access to local farmers – including GHP’s Urban Farmer Network, comprised of six (6) refugees from Burundi and the Congo who live in High Point and are also enrolled in GHP’s Farmer in Training (FIT) Program.

This grant will support the continued utilization of the Wild & Free garden to produce fresh vegetation. The Wild & Free program at The Arc supports adults with intellectual disabilities to gain pre-employment and independent living skills. The garden project is important as it teaches the entire growing process through harvesting, canning, cooking and eating. The grant will also tie into a sensory garden project proposed by Leadership High Point. This project would increase the garden footprint to the outside of the half-moon fence, and would include vegetation that would entice our senses of hearing, sight, taste, smell, and touch. Would also like to include education signs for the people the Arc supports, and the greater High Point community.

The purpose of this grant will be to provide our participants with the tools and information needed to be successful for life. Some of our participants come from homes where they may be the one asked to cook meals for younger siblings while parents are at work or out. Our workshops not only teach them how to be safe, but it also provides them with healthy, well-balanced recipes. We are collaborating with other organizations who have youth groups or who work closely with youth groups. Kareers for Kids, YEP, Elite performance sports, Commander Peace Academy and the neighboring organization D-UP. The food safety class is taught in-house at no cost to our participants.

Requests funding to continue building both the green bag nonperishable food donation program and the food recovery program in High Point. The goal of No Child Hungry is to ensure that all children and families achieve food security through sustainable access to the food they so desperately need for health. Examples of how the grant will be used include Route4Me software to enable ASG to plan routes for their 50+ volunteer delivery drivers and the CareIt app, which allows them to track food recovery pickups in rich detail. A Simple Gesture provides educational materials on both hunger in our area and the topic of food waste. Food Recovery Director, Laura Oxner, is in contact with potential new food recovery partners on a regular basis. As part of those discussions, Laura provides education to businesses about food recovery and food safety, the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act and the Food Donation Improvement Act, which provide protection to businesses that donate food in good faith.

Grant will support food programs at WEM, including the Food Pantry, Community Garden, Seniors Program, Back Packs, Community Meal, and Mobile Pantry. In addition to these food-specific programs, WEM feeds women and children through Leslie’s House Shelter, the Winter Shelter, and the After School & Summer Camp programs at WEM. In 2024, WEM served more individuals than ever in a 12-month period. However, the anticipation is that 2025 will remain at least as busy as 2024, but most likely even busier due to continued high grocery costs as well as potential funding cuts in SNAP and other federal programs. Funding will help WEM to effectively meet these increased needs and to reach new neighbors in need.

Funds will be used for the Nothing Wasted project. Nothing Wasted will teach canning, identifying resources for ongoing learning, and provide a “starter kit” for its participants to get started at home. With canning, you don’t need extensive refrigerator/freezer space since jars can be reused, making it an economical, sustainable solution to storage and avoidance of waste. The funds will also be used to purchase culinary supplies, canning supplies for class, canning supplies for participants, teaching aids, class/learning supplies, printed items, incentives, and refreshments.

D-UP Dominion is a program existing within the organization with the goal of providing individualized support, life skill training, and job exploration to youth and young adults. D-UP is offering an introductory life skill and exploration course on alternative gardening practices which will be offered to enrolled youth of all ages. The project’s intention is to instill knowledge of the origins of produce; the importance of whole, fresh, affordable food resources that are devoid of pesticides; and different methods of sustainably growing food that can feed families for generations.

Requesting funding to purchase a commercial-grade freezer and insulated bags, which will ensure the safety of meals delivered to the Meals on Wheels participants. Having an on-site freezer at their High Point location will allow them to replicate their successful frozen meal program from Greensboro and increase the capacity of individuals served in the High Point area. The availability of frozen meals enables individuals who do not reside on regular delivery routes to obtain nutritious meals. Additionally, seniors on waiting lists can have family or friends pick up a box of five meals each week from the corporate office, allowing them to warm the meals in their microwaves and receive nutritional support, thereby increasing their food security until they can be placed on a daily delivery route. The insulated bags will replace the ones purchased during COVID, which have exceeded their life expectancy due to wear and tear. The bags will ensure that seniors have a daily meal in the event the agency is closed for a holiday, as well as ensuring meals remain frozen during delivery.