Feeding San Diego, the county’s leading hunger relief and food rescue organization, is honored to announce it is a recipient of a $100,000 grant from the Cigna Foundation’s Healthier Kids For Our Future® grant program, a five-year, $25 million global initiative focused on improving the health and well-being of children.
“To have our work with the School Pantry Program recognized by the Cigna Foundation for a second time is incredibly rewarding,” said Dan Shea, CEO of Feeding San Diego. “This grant will help us continue to support San Diego County students and their families, which is much-needed during this period of inflation and other economic challenges.”
Feeding San Diego was awarded this same grant in 2021 and is delighted to be awarded the funds for a second time to continue the critical services provided by its School Pantry Program. The gift is exclusively for that program, which alleviates child hunger by providing accessible, nutritious food to children, youth, and their families at their schools, ensuring consistent, reliable access to healthy food in convenient locations where they are already comfortable.
“Schools play such a critical role in the health and well-being of children, and the School Pantry Program is a great example of that,” said Peter Welch, regional vice president at Cigna. “Research shows that lack of quality nutrition in children can lead to long-lasting physical and mental health problems. Our goal by working with groups like Feeding San Diego is to address food insecurity now to help build healthier communities in the future.”
Feeding San Diego’s School Pantry Program is a proven program, run in partnership with local school districts, that leads to improved health, well-being, food security, and school readiness for children while alleviating stress and improving health for the parents. The program was adapted during the pandemic when remote learning was the norm and has come back stronger since schools went back to person. The program is now operating at 44 campuses, in school districts ranging from Ramona to South Bay to San Diego Unified. The sites include Title 1 elementary, middle, and high schools located in the US Census Bureau’s low-moderate income tracks where a high percentage of students come from low-income families and have a high incidence of health risk and low access to food assistance.