More Than 900 Cleveland Families Receive Health Meal Kits

Press release from PHA:

June 18, 2021

Cleveland families continued to pick up healthy meal kits at Andrew J. Rickoff School as part of the ‘Pass the Love w/ Waffles + Mochi’ campaign from Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), in collaboration with PHA Honorary Chair Michelle Obama and Higher Ground Productions. During the month of June, 2,500 families in the Cleveland area will receive over 120,000 healthy meals distributed across nine different Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) distribution sites. The campaign aims to raise awareness about healthy eating and food equity while working to meet its goal of distributing 1 million meals to families in need across the country.

"The Partnership for a Healthier America is providing total meal solutions through meal kits – not just groceries – with the hope that we help families in need prepare and enjoy food at home that is better than fast food in every way," said Nancy E. Roman, President and CEO, Partnership for a Healthier America. "This is all part of our mission to transform the American food landscape in the pursuit of health equity. This national campaign aims to shift our food culture toward more affordable at-home meals."

A Video of Last Week’s Kick-off ‘Pass the Love’ Distribution Event is Clipped Above and Available HERE

‘Pass the Love’ Meal Kit Recipes are Available HERE

"Cleveland has the highest rate of child poverty in the nation, and so it is critical that we ensure families have access to affordable, nutritious meals," said Eric Gordon, CEO, Cleveland Metropolitan School District. "We are excited to be participating in ‘Pass the Love w/ Waffles + Mochi,’ a campaign devoted to that very purpose."

"This has been a great partnership between ‘Pass the Love w/ Waffles + Mochi,’ the Partnership for a Healthier America, and School Nutrition," said Chris Burkhardt, Executive Director, Child and Food Nutrition Services, Cleveland Metropolitan School District. "A big thank you to our partners for making this vision a reality. We are thankful for the foods, but the recipes to teach families how to prepare healthy meals is invaluable. We at CMSD appreciate the partnership and our families truly appreciate the meal kits."

"I grew up with food insecurity in Northeast Ohio, so returning with the ‘Pass the Love’ campaign is incredibly meaningful to me," said Jeff Mills, CEO, Genuine Foods. "This partnership is a continuation of our own uncompromising focus on delivering real, scratch-made, culturally relevant food that improves the lives and livelihoods of these communities. We look forward to continuing to distribute these meal kits to families in and around Cleveland, and hope they find joy and comfort in cooking all of these special recipes."

Launching this month in Cleveland and Atlanta, the ‘Pass the Love’ campaign will announce additional partner cities throughout the summer. Inaugural partners of the campaign are Walmart and Blue Apron. Additional funding has been provided by Bounty and individual donors across the country. Socially conscious food service organization Genuine Foods has sourced and assembled the meal kits, including high-quality ingredients and recipes inspired by the new Netflix series Waffles + Mochi, enabling families to create meals that are fun, fast, and affordable to replicate.

This press release was produced by PHA. The views expressed here are the author's own.