Last year, United Way of Midland County announced the launch of a new collective impact program, ReGrow TogetherSM in collaboration with eleven community partners. This innovative approach to solving the persistent community issue of food insecurity strives to empower people through access to healthy meals, job training, education and resources, all while reducing food waste.
“It all started with a question – how can we put surplus food to use feeding our neighbors in an easy and tasty way,” shared Jason Story, Director of ReGrow Together at United Way of Midland County. “Through conversation, we discovered a gap and got to work developing an innovative approach to not only reaching our neighbors with healthy food, but also reducing food waste. Throughout our first year, we’ve had incredible success, composing over 12,000 meals that were distributed throughout the County.”
Access to healthy food is one of United Way’s key focus areas. They shared that according to Feeding America, over 34 million people in the US are food insecure, including 9 million children. Locally, that includes 9,000 people (11%) and almost 2,500 children (13%) that are classified as food insecure. United Way shared that across the country 30-40% of food supply goes to waste each year, largely because we lack systems to transform healthy ingredients into meals.
Holly Miller, President and CEO of United Way shared “The need for a solution was urgent, and that’s why we’ve invested in ReGrow TogetherSM.”
The program depends on many partners – it’s a true collaborative approach to creating impact.
“When we look at solving persistent community challenges, it comes down to putting the issue at the center,” shared Holly Miller, President and CEO of United Way of Midland County. “Then each partner explores what unique piece we bring to the solution and weave that all for shared success. ReGrow TogetherSM builds upon all that our partners are already doing to serve our community.”
United Way partners with Hidden Harvest, Midland County Food Assistance Network, Phoenix Community Farm, Food Bank of Eastern Michigan, Arnold Center, MyMichigan Health, Windover High School, Midland Business Alliance, West Midland Family Center, Greater Midland North Family Center, Great Midland Coleman Family Center and Delta College to bring this program to life.
HOW IT WORKS
“When you think about the ecosystem that we’re trying to create with ReGrow TgoetherSM it really comes down to three buckets,” shared Miller. “Food procurement, those agencies that focused on getting the ingredients where they need to be. The second is workforce development – building culinary skills and giving practical ways to learn while also transforming these ingredients into readymade meals. The third is distribution – we work with our network already in existence and they get those meals to the folks who need them. An additional component is connecting these folks to other resources because we know if they are hungry, chances are they are struggling with other issues as well. We are striving to ensure they are connected with the people who can help.”
Each partner plays a key role in ensuring this program makes an impact.
Ingredients are secured through Hidden Harvest’s Rescue and Redistribution Program as well as Midland County Emergency Food Pantry and Food Bank of Eastern Michigan. Produce is provided by Phoenix Community Farm and Arnold Farms to add additional fresh and healthy ingredients to the prepared meals. This includes investments in preserving produce during the growing season that can be used all year long.
Meals are planned around the ingredients provided and are prepared into delicious ready-to-eat meals at two community kitchens – Windover High School and the Arnold Center. Windover High School’s culinary program teaches aspiring culinarians to be better chefs while learning creative problem-solving skills by determining how to use unique ingredients which is mirrored at the Arnold Center as participants learn valuable skills by helping to prepare and package the meals.
After the meals are prepared and packaged, they are distributed through local family centers at no charge. West Midland Family Center, Greater Midland North Family Center, Greater Midland Coleman Family Center and Delta College are the current meal distribution partners, but the goal of the program is to expand further into the community by offering meals at more locations.
RECENT IMPACT
ReGrow TogetherSM officially launched last year at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational. The program partnered with the Dow Championship again this year helping to reduce food waste from the event. Hidden Harvest rescued the surplus food and the Arnold Center and Windover teams turned it into meals that were distributed throughout our region.
“We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to partner with the Dow Championship again this year,” shared Story. “The way our partners came together was an incredible testament to their commitment to our communities. In one week, enough food was rescued to produce over 1,000 meals. That impact is huge and wouldn’t have been possible without this partnership and the hard work of the team behind the scenes preparing, packaging and distributing the meals. This is just an example of how innovative this program can be, and how when we come together great impact can be made.”
LOOKING FORWARD
With the support of the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, United Way is working intentionally to pilot this in Midland County while creating a roadmap that can be replicated in other communities. The program’s pilot goal is to rescue enough food to produce 1,000+ meals each month with an average cost of $.25 per meal, then double the number of meals produced as the program builds capacity.
United Way shared that meals are distributed monthly through their family center partners.
To learn more about ReGrow TogetherSM or about how you can get involved, visit ReGrowTogether.org.
