Feed Northwest Mississippi

The Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi is deeply involved in working throughout its twelve-county footprint and beyond to work toward a healthier lifestyle for all the citizens of the communities within its reach. The Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi (CFNM) connects through food pantries, soup kitchens, nonprofits providing access to food, and farmers to assist in increasing access to healthy food and health care. Connecting neighbors to wrap-around services with food pantries as the initial source is a model that is being developed through the Healthy Pantry Initiative . This program is a joint initiative of CFNM, the Maddox Nonprofit & Volunteer Resource Hub, and Delta Directions in conjunction with Mississippi State Extension Service Aim for Change program.

The initial pantry cohort of nine pantries received training in best practices for pantries, Healthy Choice of pantry foods for clients, healthy living, grant writing and ways to solicit donations, how to best serve their clients, and how to connect with existing services in their communities. The training sessions were completed over four months of classes and then the pantries participated in a hands-on program to implement a program that they designed to improve how their pantry serves the community. These pantry training cohorts will be continued yearly to work toward helping all pantries in our area to become the best that they can be.

The aim of our healthy food initiative is to connect not only food pantries, but all avenues related to raising awareness that Mississippi can become a healthier state though connecting our farmers, through connecting all to health care options, through teaching our young people about healthy food options and how they are grown, and exploring all the resources available but with hidden accessibility. Our state has so many resources that are so hard to find. We want options for all Mississippians to be easy to find and even more to not have to jump through hoops and search for options.