ABSTRACT

One out of seven Americans go to food pantries regularly for charitable food. The chronic use of food pantries shows that we need more than just short-term food supplies to address food insecurity. The More Than Food framework helps build capacity of food pantries to address the root causes of hunger and to build food security, health, and life stability of food pantry clients. In 2016, the Kelly Memorial Food Pantry (KMFP) in El Paso, TX started the Fresh Start program, using the More Than Food framework. From February 2016 to August 2017, a total of 70 members in three cohorts were recruited into the program. Over 9 months, members had significant gains in food security, self-sufficiency, and diet quality (all p < .01), controlling for self-efficacy, household size and age. Results mirror findings from the evaluation of Freshplace in Hartford, CT that served as the inspiration for Fresh Start. Results are promising and add support for scalability of the framework.