The Nevada Department of Agriculture has expanded a grant program and awarded $6 million to community organizations to fight food insecurity and improve food access in Nevada communities, expanding funding to 14 projects working on the ground in local communities to feed those in need.
The Fallon Food Hub was one of six projects awarded $96,000 in May of this year out of the first $500,000 of the American Rescue Plan Act funding and was recently chosen as one of the 14 projects that will utilize the $6 million funding. Two days a week, members of the community could access fresh, local food at either the Life Center or the Fallon Tribe.
According to Executive Director Kelli Kelly, the Fallon Food Hub was awarded $633,000, to purchase food from local farmers within a 400-mile radius of Fallon to distribute produce and value-added products to food-insecure families through the William N. Pennington Life Center and the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe.
Kelly said the grant will make it possible to provide for produce distribution once each week for 89 weeks at both locations. Additionally, the Food Hub will be able to purchase a refrigerated vehicle, increasing its capacity to store, move, and keep more food through the supply chain. There is also funding to provide produce each week to both kitchens. “That is a $400 budget augmentation each week to each senior center to supplement food purchases for both kitchens,” she said referencing the senior center at the Tribe and the Pennington Life Center.
Kelly said that this community does a good job of providing food resources to those in need. “If you need food assistance there are so many places to go to get help,” she said. However, there is a large segment of the community that does not qualify for food assistance by the regulatory standards, but because of their income levels have to make the choice each month between electricity or fuel and healthy food.
To qualify for many food programs, a family has to fall significantly below the poverty line. “Easily one-third of the food insecure population in this community is unable to access those programs because they don’t meet the metric. It’s folks who are just getting by or on a fixed income. With the rise in gas prices if there are any unexpected expenses it will have an impact on their ability to buy healthy and nutritious food.”
It is that part of the community that this program was designed to serve. “That is whom we’re trying to target with this grant program, people who don’t think of themselves as food insecure, but are,” said Kelly. “This is for anyone who needs help. There is no barrier to entry, we just ask that they get a Life Center card because that’s how we track our numbers and just show up.” There is no age limit to access the program.
Kelly said they are slated to start the distribution in mid-January and are working on a notification plan to make sure they can get the word out.
Jennifer Ott, Directory of the NDA said that “Food insecurity is present throughout Nevada, but the resources to fight it have historically been centralized in the state’s urban centers. These projects will expand food distribution and food assistance resources in underserved rural and Tribal communities, as well as provide additional assistance to high-need urban areas. Projects from 14 organizations were funded to improve food security in the state.”
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