Operation Food Search Receives $100,000 Grant

Operation Food Search (OFS), a non-profit hunger relief organization, recently received a $100,000 grant from the Dana Brown Charitable Trust to fund its Fresh Rx: Prescribing Healthy Futures. The trust provides for the health, education, and welfare of disadvantaged children, as well as the health and welfare of animals in the St. Louis Metro area.

Fresh Rx, in partnership with the Normandy Schools Collaborative (NSC), is a program designed to create a healthy and hunger-free school district. OFS provides programs, practices and policies necessary to ensure the entire NSC—including students and their families, district administrators, faculty and staff, community partners, and school neighborhood residents—has the food and nutrition needed to thrive.

The grant will be used to accomplish four goals: make the most of the USDA Child Nutrition programs (includes school breakfast, lunch, after-school meals, and summer meals) at all NSC schools; develop the 1.6 acre Normandy High School Teaching Farm and agricultural career pathway; create a food oasis in a food desert by building the Normandy High School Community Market and Learning Kitchen, and; provide nutritional support to students with additional health and academic needs.

“We are so very grateful to the Dana Brown Charitable Trust for its support of our Fresh Rx program,” said OFS’s Executive Director Kristen Wild. “This grant enables Operation Food Search to address a cyclical problem—the lack of nutritious food access—with a holistic and sustainable approach.”

“Our work with OFS has been an exciting partnership because our students are at the heart of the partnership. OFS has been intentional about including student voice in addressing the local food desert challenges,” said Normandy Superintendent of Schools Dr. Charles J. Pearson. “Plans for the NHS teaching farm, the planned market, and the learning kitchen are all the result of our students wanting to learn more – not just for themselves, but for the improvement of our community. In their words, they want to be ‘part of the solution and leave a legacy.’”

Founded in 1981, Operation Food Search (OFS) is a hunger relief organization that provides free food, nutrition education and innovative programs proven to reduce food insecurity. With a strategic focus aimed at ending childhood hunger, OFS empowers families and increases access to healthy and affordable food. The agency provides food and services to nearly 200,000 individuals on a monthly basis – one-third of whom are children – through a network of 330 community partners in 30 Missouri and Illinois counties. For more information, call (314) 726-5355 or visit www.OperationFoodSearch.org.