I don’t often give shout outs to corporations, but in this case I had to make an exception. In the last few years, I’ve become pretty fanatical about healthful eating — buying whole grain products and organic (locally grown when possible) meat and produce. I’m happy and grateful to be able to feed my family and support local farmers in this way.
However, I’m not naïve. I know that it is financially impossible for many families to buy organic food, or even just fresh produce at all. So that’s why I was so pleased to hear that Wholesome Wave, a Connecticut-based, national nonprofit organization dedicated to nourishing neighborhoods across America by increasing access to and affordability of healthy, locally grown food, announced this week that it received a $600,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente.
The funding will be used primarily to support its Double Value Coupon Program, which provides fresh food incentives to encourage low-income consumers to increase their purchase of nutritious produce through local farmers markets.
Wonderful, right? Even better, the funding for the grant is a result of KP’s employee wellness program, through which Kaiser contributed $50 for each employee who took a health risk assessment. Almost 23,000 Kaiser Permanente employees participated in the program, raising $1.2 million overall, which is being distributed to Wholesome Wave and the Washington D.C.-based National Assembly for School-Based Health Care.
So, Kaiser Permanente put money toward making its employees and the community at large healthier. Definitely worthy of a shout out, I’d say.
What do you think of this initiative? Would your company consider paying health forward in this way? Share your thoughts in the comments or submit another company that you think is worthy of a shout out.
