UAMS Center on Aging-Northeast Receives $5,500 Fighting Hunger Grant from Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation
| May 17, 2018 | The Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation has awarded the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Center on Aging-Northeast in Jonesboro a $5,500 Fighting Hunger Grant.
The grant funds will be used to host the Cooking Matters Store Tours. This project will provide access to education for low-income families on low-cost healthy foods, a $10 gift card allowing them to try food and recipes their budgets may not normally support, and SNAP education and application assistance.
“The goal of this initiative is to partner with our local Alpha Gamma Delta chapter at Arkansas State University, to provide nutrition education programs that empower low-income families with skills, knowledge and confidence to prepare healthy and affordable meals,” said Samantha Hollis, B.S.N., R.N. “This is also a learning and community service opportunity for the girls to be involved in their philanthropy focus — fighting hunger.”
Hollis is an education outreach specialist at the Center on Aging-Northeast.
Arkansas ranks 45th in the percentage of households living at or below the poverty level. This program has the ability to reach a large number of participants and offers the opportunity for larger groups of volunteers to work together, Hollis said. The Center on Aging-Northeast plans to host a number of event days in low-income, rural areas in the 17-county region served by the center. Several events will be held at grocery stores and use the station model to organize the tours.
Participants begin by visiting a registration table to enroll in the tour, begin the necessary paperwork and receive a tour passport. They bring the passport with them as they visit each of the stations (produce, grains, dairy and protein) set up in corresponding areas of the store. These stations are manned by volunteers of the Alpha Gamma Delta Chapter. An additional station will be set up to provide education and application assistance for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) also referred to as Food Stamps or EBT cards. On completion of each station, they receive a stamp on their passport. Once all stations are complete, participants return to the registration table to turn in the passport and complete their paperwork.
The Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation supports the philanthropic focus of Alpha Gamma Delta – fighting hunger. The Foundation provides grants to non-profit organizations throughout the United States and Canada who fight hunger in our communities.
The Center on Aging-Northeast’s mission is to improve health outcomes of older Arkansans through interdisciplinary clinical care and innovative educational programs. This is accomplished through health care professionals with geriatric expertise working together as a team to serve the whole continuum of needs of older adults and funding through philanthropic gifts, with a portion of Arkansas’ share of the national Tobacco Settlement.
The UAMS Center on Aging Northeast is a program of the UAMS Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging. One of seven centers around the state, it serves 17 counties in the northeast Arkansas region and is partnered with St. Bernards Senior Health Clinic and also provides the Schmieding Home Caregiver Training program.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; hospital; northwest Arkansas regional campus; statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Myeloma Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,834 students, 822 medical residents and six dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses throughout the state, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram.