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“Food as Medicine” around Town
Representatives James P. McGovern (D-MA), Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Lois Capps (D-CA), and Kari Fuglesten, staffer of Representative Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) joined CHC and ANSA staff to tour Washington, D.C.-based ANSA member agency Food & Friends.
Food & Friends staff escorted legislators through the kitchen and pantry spaces where volunteers were observed packing and labeling meals and grocery bags to be delivered to clients. The highlight of the tour was a moving presentation given by two chronically ill clients, who reflected on their improved quality of life thanks to services provided by Food & Friends. Thanks go to Food & Friends for providing these essential nutrition services and for showing legislators, first hand, the positive impact that “food as medicine” can have for the chronically ill.
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| From left to right: Representatives Emerson (R-MO), Schakowsky (D-IL), Capps (D-CA), McGovern (D-MA), Lee (D-CA), and Norton (D-DC) following their tour of Food & Friends. |
Food & Friends delivers 3,500 meals to D.C., Virginia, and Maryland homes six days a week, serving the D.C. community that leads the country in newly diagnosed cases of HIV with 11 times the national average of prevalence rates. The District also has the highest per capita cancer mortality rate in the United States. Professional chefs and registered dieticians working with Food & Friends have designed 14 specialized diets to meet the distinct nutritional challenges, symptoms, treatment side effects, and dietary restrictions of varying diseases, pairing each client with the diet or combination of diets that suits them best. Supported by 4,500 volunteers, Food & Friends not only improves the quality of life for those suffering chronic illnesses, the organization also brings an element of stability to the lives of these clients and their families.
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