Nutrition Services
As we improve access to nutritious foods,
we also are working to empower those
we serve with information about how to
prepare these items.
In FY 2015, we continued to provide
free culinary and nutrition education to
low-income families across North Texas,
emphasizing the basics of nutrition,
cooking, food management, food
budgeting, and food safety. Partnering
with Share Our Strength’s Cooking
Matters, we organized 27 six-week
Cooking Matters courses to promote
healthful and affordable food choices to
over 420 participants. More than 200
additional nutrition workshops reached
5,370 low-income participants with ways to eat nutritious food on a budget. NTFB distributed some 218,000 free
nutrition education materials, including handouts and recipes, to further promote and support health education for
food-insecure audiences.
Through our new Food 4 Health program, we provided nutrition education and healthful food access to patients
at 2 local health clinics. After participants are screened for food insecurity and referred into the program, they
receive fresh produce and other nutritious nonperishable food items twice a month for 6 months at their clinic.
NTFB also partnered with 23 community gardens to grow and connect fresh produce to those in need. Partner
gardens donate 10 percent of their yield to a local Partner Agency, while NTFB provides volunteers to help with
planting, harvesting and weeding the garden. More than 15,000 pounds of garden-fresh produce was donated
through our partner gardens last year.