Fredericksburg Food Bank Gets 'Fresh' Update ...
... and those who depend upon the organization for meals will get fresher options.
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Email Martin
Jon Hansel grew up in New Jersey, far removed from issues of poverty. Since joining Americorps, the scales have fallen off his eyes.
“I … expected to see poverty” when I joined Americorps, he told the Advance, but not what he saw in Tennessee in the wake of Hurricane Helene. “We were in a town completely destroyed,” he said, “and we were literally sifting through people’s items as debris.”
Today, Hansel is in Fredericksburg facing poverty of another kind — not that created by natural disasters, but that created by food deserts, declining incomes, and sky-high grocery bills.
He and his team are working with the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank to help transition the site from one that focuses on shelf-stable foods, to one that focuses on delivering fresh fruits and vegetables.
“The best types of food are the fresh foods,” LaToya Brown told the Advance during our tour of the renovations underway at the food bank’s Lee Hill Drive facility. And for that reason, the food bank is following the lead established by the Virginia Federation of Food Banks and moving toward providing more fresh, healthy options to select from.
Brown is the food bank’s director of community partnerships, and a passionate advocate of the transition.
“People shouldn’t have to trade off nutrition for emergency assistance,” she said. To that end, we are “shifting our space to make clear we’re about creating healthy options. … We want people to feel welcome here; see that we’re making intentional choices in how we display food and what we make available to our neighbors. It’s about how we treat and welcome our neighbors. How we serve our neighbors. We want to provide all five food groups that make a well-rounded meal.”
This overhaul, however, is neither simple nor cheap. And that’s how Hansel and Americorps found their way to Fredericksburg.
“Americorps got involved,” said Dominique Thomas, the volunteer coordinator for the food bank, “because we were looking for ways to offset the cost” associated with transitioning our space from one that is designed for shelf-stable foods to one that can handle fresh fruits and vegetables.
As a former Americorps member, Thomas knows what these teams, who are federally funded, can do.
Hansel is the team leader of the National Civilian Community Corps — a branch of Americorps — that is renovating the reception area into a Welcome Center to make the space more friendly to those visiting. They’re also doing site prep, Thomas said, so that everything is clean for painting. In addition, the NCCC team is assembling and relocating furniture, and moving foods into other places while refrigeration is being moved in and set up to serve clients.
This type of work is giving Hansel a different understanding of poverty and how to address it.
“I’m getting a broader perspective about food insecurity,” he told the Advance. “This [work, as opposed to that in Tennessee] is taking a step back at an operational level — how food banks are run. The mobile delivery system, for example, was interesting to see. Gives me a better appreciation for people going through trying times.”
This transition goes hand-in-hand with another movement that is helping identify people facing food insecurity.
The Food Is Medicine program, an initiative of the Federation of Virginia Food Banks, now leverages healthcare providers to help identify and support those who are facing food insecurity.
According to its website, the Food Is Medicine program now requires health partners to “assess patients’ social needs, including food, housing, and transportation. Once a patient ‘screens positive’ or is found to need more support in these areas, health partners refer them to community partners, like food banks, to help address these needs.”
The Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank partners with Mary Washington Hospital Corporation and other medical partners in the area, like the Fredericksburg Christian Health Center. “They provide space for healthy shelf stable items,” said Brown. “They can then screen and provide food and refer them to us.”
Once in the system, the food bank works with them to access fresh foods to improve their diets and, subsequently, their health.
In addition to NCCC’s assistance, the food bank is receiving support from Ebenezer United Methodist in Stafford, which is hosting Hansel and his team; Atlantic Builders, which is providing the electric work that’s needed, as well as paint and a staff member to help oversee the project; and Giant, which is providing produce stands, a bakery setup, and a few of their shelving options.
Once the renovations are complete, not only will those who come to the food bank have healthy food options before them, but they will have a more-welcoming place to receive those goods.
“It will look the same as you see at the grocery store,” said Thomas.
And that matters because underlying all the food bank’s work is the dignity of the people they serve.
That’s a concept that Hansel and his team have also picked up on.
“It’s important for people to have a space that gives them dignity when they’re going to get assistance,” he said.
“This really is a community project,” said Thomas. “Without community help, this doesn’t happen.”
The goal is to have the core work done by the time the Americorps members leave — February 27.
“We’re going to do a grand reopening, said Mishelle Krogstad, director of agency relations at the food bank, “but the timeline isn’t set.”
As for Hansel and his team, it’s back to Mississippi, their home base with NCCC for more training for their next trip. “
We’re going to Lafayette LA next,” he said, “to work with Catholic Charities doing more construction and some disaster relief work.”
If you’d like to assist in helping the food bank complete this work, they are accepting monetary donations to help offset the supplies they’ve had to purchase to complete the work. Please contact the food bank at (540) 371-7666 for more information.
Local Obituaries
To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit the link that follows.
Support Award-winning, Locally Focused Journalism
The FXBG Advance cuts through the talking points to deliver both incisive and informative news about the issues, people, and organizations that daily affect your life. And we do it in a multi-partisan format that has no equal in this region. Over the past year, our reporting was:
First to break the story of Stafford Board of Supervisors dismissing a citizen library board member for “misconduct,” without informing the citizen or explaining what the person allegedly did wrong.
First to explain falling water levels in the Rappahannock Canal.
First to detail controversial traffic numbers submitted by Stafford staff on the Buc-ee’s project
Our media group also offers the most-extensive election coverage in the region and regular columnists like:
And our newsroom is led by the most-experienced and most-awarded journalists in the region — Adele Uphaus (Managing Editor and multiple VPA award-winner) and Martin Davis (Editor-in-Chief, 2022 Opinion Writer of the Year in Virginia and more than 25 years reporting from around the country and the world).
For just $8 a month, you can help support top-flight journalism that puts people over policies.
Your contributions 100% support our journalists.
Help us as we continue to grow!
This article is published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. It can be distributed for noncommercial purposes and must include the following: “Published with permission by FXBG Advance.”