CFCI Awards $50,000 to Address Food Insecurity

Community Foundation of Central Illinois Awards $50,000 to Address Food Insecurity

March 16, 2021—The Community Foundation of Central Illinois (CFCI) announced the selection of the 2021 Ending Hunger Together grant recipients. The Ending Hunger Together Fund was established to address food insecurity in central Illinois by working to create a framework that mixes healthy food access, civic education and community development. The proposals submitted by HEAL Food System Partners, led by the Tazewell County Health Department, and Peoria Grown for their Market 309 and Wellness & Nutrition Hub project, will each be awarded $25,000 to help address food insecurity issues in the community.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to continue building the HEAL partnership into its third year by working on Ending Hunger Together with the Community Foundation of Central Illinois. Our greatest success from our first year was building trust between dedicated organizations working to improve healthy food access to our most vulnerable. This partnership tests the alignment of programming through four community-based projects. Our hope is for these projects to continue producing wonderful outcomes, generate new and innovative ideas and foster healthy collaborative relationships between partners,” says Amy Fox of the Tazewell County Health Department.

“Peoria Grown is thrilled to receive the Ending Hunger Together grant to be used toward Market 309 and the Wellness & Nutrition Hub, and we thank CFCI for this tremendous opportunity. Through this project, we plan to not only provide a marketplace where residents can purchase healthy, fresh food at a low cost, but also a hub for health and wellness outreach and education, including healthcare, health check-ups, cooking, nutrition, and exercise classes. We look forward to establishing a permanent market and education hub and working together with project partners to expand our reach to more at-need individuals in the community,” says Julie Eliathamby of Peoria Grown.

“We are proud to support the incredible efforts of the HEAL Partnership and Market 309 and the Wellness & Nutrition Hub through CFCI’s Ending Hunger Together grant program. It has been impressive seeing the strides HEAL has made in addressing systemic issues related to food insecurity in the past few years and we look forward to its growth continuing. We are also excited to witness the undoubtedly large impact Peoria Grown’s project will have on this community while creating a more permanent hub to increase awareness and accessibility,” says Mark Roberts, President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Central Illinois.

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