HOUSTON – The Houston Health Department is continuing a partnership with Fresh Hub, a student-led program that provides people fresh nutritious produce, bread and other foods at no charge. The distribution events, held at two health department multi-service centers, target food deserts, areas with low-access to healthy food options.
Fresh Hub, a project of Bellaire High School’s Future Problem Solvers Club, collects quality excess food from grocery stores and bakeries and offers it free of charge through a collaboration with Second Servings. The program distributed more than 3,550 pounds of free food to more than 600 people through its first nine events.
Up to 40 % of food in the United States is never eaten while approximately one in eight Americans struggles to put enough food on the table, according to the National Resource Defense Council. Project Fresh Hub aims to address those challenges.
“What these Bellaire High School students have been able to accomplish through Project Fresh Hub is extremely impressive,” said Stephen Williams, director of the Houston Health Department. “These young people identified a need in the community and developed an innovative and effective approach to help those affected.”
The distribution events are free, open to anyone and pre-registration is not required. Participants are asked to arrive to the event no more than 30 minutes before start time.
The next six Fresh Hub monthly distribution events are scheduled to take place September 2019 through February 2020 at the Kashmere Multi-Service Center, 4802 Lockwood Dr, and the Sunnyside Multi-Service Center, 9314 Cullen Blvd.
- Saturday, Sept. 21: Sunnyside Multi-Service Center, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
- Friday, Oct. 11: Kashmere Multi-Service Center, 3 p.m.-5 p.m.
- Monday, Nov. 25: Sunnyside Multi-Service Center, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
- Monday, Dec. 23: Kashmere Multi-Service Center, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
- Friday, Jan. 17: Kashmere Multi-Service Center, 3 p.m. – 5 p.m.
- Saturday, Feb. 15: Suunnyside Multi-Service Center, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Fresh Hub was recently awarded first place in the human services category at Future Problem Solving Program International, a dynamic international program in which students apply critical thinking and problem-solving skills to hypothetical future situations.
The program recently launched a mobile application that provides a schedule of distribution events, food resource news and healthy eating plans. A link to the app and more information is available at freshhubhouston.com.
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