School of Medicine ColumbiaYou can help make healthy food available.
FoodShare South Carolina launched in 2015 as an alternative source of produce for patients struggling to manage their chronic illness through a diet based on the high cost of produce. Beverly Wilson, co-founder and Executive Director, took her years of experience buying bulk produce for her neighborhood and combined it with her work in Health Promotions to create a fresh food box with low cost and high value. FoodShare’s small Fresh Food Box is available for $20 to cash recipients and thanks to the South Carolina SNAP Incentive program, Healthy Bucks, it can be purchased for $5 with a SNAP EBT card. After years of successfully packing and distributing these boxes, FoodShare has expanded to research and education with multiple programs aimed at addressing the social determinants of health and barriers to food accessibility. Our statewide network uses a community-based approach that demonstrates that FoodShare is more than just a box of food. Our goal is to improve health conditions of those in underserved areas of the state through food access and work together to dismantle oppressive systems that both cause and hold poverty in place.
FoodShare South Carolina has the opportunity to make healthy eating easier for the parent who is working two jobs, the senior managing a fixed income, and the folks on the income margins who are just trying to make ends meet. We are fueled by the stories of our participants who are bringing their chronic illnesses like diabetes under control through the Fresh Food Box and the testimonies of our friends who are addressing life’s other barriers as their food access becomes secure. Your contribution would bring us one step closer to closing the gap in food and health inequity in South Carolina.
