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One Million Meals Campaign Exceeds Goal in 2020

Date: 10/26/20

Seattle, WA (October 26, 2020) – In May 2020, Coordinated Care and its employees launched the “One Million Meals” campaign, an effort to contribute one million meals to assist people across Washington facing hunger and food insecurity before the end of the year. Today, Coordinated Care announced that it exceeded its goal by 60 percent by helping deliver more than 1,600,000 meals across the state through employee donations, community partnerships, and other programs.

“Hunger has been a challenging issue throughout Washington for years, and the COVID-19 pandemic amplified this need as people experienced job loss and food programs experienced disruptions,” said Beth Johnson, President and CEO, Coordinated Care. “During this critical time, we prioritized support for addressing food insecurity to support our neighbors in local communities. We’re so proud of our employees and our community partners that came together to provide quality, healthy food to those in need.”

The “One Million Meals” campaign is one way that Coordinated Care is helping to address critical social determinants of health across Washington. Social determinants of health are non-medical factors that influence quality health outcomes, and food and nutrition are essential for building a solid foundation for health and wellness. The campaign included multiple initiatives, including employee donations and volunteering, Coordinated Care investments, community partnerships, and more. Below is an overview of the programs that contributed to the more than 1,600,000 meals:

  • Employee Giving Campaign: Coordinated Care employees launched an online fundraising campaign in May 2020 and more than 100 employees contributing. Coordinated Care then matched the donations dollar-for-dollar to double the support, which provided 151,000 meals through the Emergency Food Network’s COVID-19 response program.
  • Emergency Food Network (EFN): Coordinated Care has been a long-time partner of EFN, and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it increased support for the organization. Through their donations, Coordinated Care helped provide more than 340,000 meals for residents in Pierce County, the South Sound region, and other communities across Washington through direct deliveries, donations to food banks, and more. Coordinated Care also provided supplies such as the reusable grocery bags that EFN used to deliver supplies, and Coordinated Care employees also volunteered more than 230 hours with EFN in 2020.
  • Northwest Harvest: This year, Coordinated Care donated funds to support several programs, which helped Northwest Harvest distribute more than 500,000 emergency food boxes to food pantries and meal sites. Coordinated Care also helped create efficient programs for grocery pickups to help support children, families, and seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, Coordinated Care teamed up with the Seattle Mariners and Northwest Harvest to hold a virtual peanut butter drive, which provided 540,000 meals to children across the state.
  • Second Harvest: Coordinated Care supported Second Harvest to help them expand access to its Mobile Market, a traveling food pantry that serves rural parts of Central and Eastern Washington. The Mobile Market helped more than 84,000 children, families, and seniors access fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy, and other food by bringing supplies directly to their communities.

“I can’t even tell you how much the food helps,” said a recipient of EFN’s home delivery program. “I don’t even bring in enough to pay my bills right now. I was going to the food bank, but the lines were getting too long, and I have a back issue, so I wasn’t able to stand in line anymore. I found out about [the Home Delivery Program] from one of my Facebook groups and I was so happy to find you guys.”

Coordinated Care has been supporting Washington residents since 2012 across its Apple Health (Medicaid), Apple Health Foster Care, and Marketplace (Exchange) Ambetter from Coordinated Care health plans. For more information about Coordinated Care’s activities, please visit https://www.coordinatedcarehealth.com/.

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