Dr. Gail Kauwell's University of Florida masters students used a $250 grant from LGAA to pay for boxes in which they collected food that met the daily minimum nutritional need of the people who depend on Catholic charities for food donations. The Gainesville Sun ran a front page article about the success of the program and that it is going to be adopted state wide by Catholic Charities. The full article is below:
Oct 27, 2007
UF study finds nutritional needs not met in food packages for needy
By VANESSA GARCIA
Sun staff writer
After an eight-week analysis of food distributed to the needy by Catholic Charities food pantry, master's students from the dietetics program at the University of Florida found alarming holes in the nutritional value of already scarce food options.
Food packages assembled by the Compassion in Action Food Pantry, which feeds about 180 families in Alachua County each week, met none of the USDA daily serving recommendations for each of the five main food groups, according to data collected by UF students.
"People want to help, but when you ask for general donations, a lot of people just clean out their cabinets," said Karen Slevin, executive director of Catholic Charities in Gainesville.
The average donated food package, designed to feed a family of a given size for three days, contained only 9 percent of the recommended serving of fruit and less than 18 percent of the recommended serving of milk, according to the data.
More than 200 clients from the food pantry reported a need for more meat options in a student-run survey.
"Not only are they experiencing a shortage of food because of the high demand, but the mix of food doesn't meet people's basic nutritional needs," said Gail Kauwell, associate professor in the Food Science and Human Nutrition Department at UF.
After assessing the charity's needs, UF students created the "Feed a Family" donation program to improve the quantity and nutritional quality of foods, Kauwell said.
The program, which Catholic Charities plans to implement statewide, asks donors to fill boxes with specific amounts of foods listed on a "giving guide" that meet at least 70 percent of the USDA recommendations.
Each package will come with educational brochures and recipes developed and tested by the students, Kauwell said.
"We get more food and exactly what we need," Slevin said. "When people see exactly what it takes to feed a specific family, it adds a human element."
For more information about the program or to donate to Catholic Charities, located at 1717 NE 9th St., call (352) 372-0294.
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