Meals, Produce Provide A Lifeline For Marylanders
Moveable Feast’s meal and produce delivery is helping hundreds of critically ill clients
Sarah Wolf, Media & Community Relations
When Moveable Feast opened in 1989, it wanted to create an atmosphere of hope for men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS. The organization saw a need for home delivered meals that were medically tailored for its clients, and Moveable Feast quickly expanded beyond its roots in Baltimore City.
Thirty years later, the organization operates in 15 counties throughout Maryland and has delivered more than 13 million meals to people managing life-threatening illnesses. It is also the only organization to do so at no cost to its clients when they are too sick to access, afford, or able to prepare nutritious meals for themselves.
Moveable Feast’s vision – to feed people, fight disease and foster hope – is one that aligns closely with CareFirst’s work to increase access to affordable health care for all residents in our service area, including those who are under- or uninsured.
Since 2012, CareFirst has funded the inclusion of fresh fruits and vegetables as part of Moveable Feast’s Home Delivered Meals program, resulting in the delivery of more than 90,000 weekly bags of fresh produce to 4,511 critically ill clients in the state. CareFirst is currently funding the program through 2020, continuing its important work with Moveable Feast to ensure all Marylander’s have access to healthy foods.
Associates Embrace Our Mission At Moveable Feast
In addition to supporting Moveable Feast through grantmaking, CareFirst encourages its associates to volunteer at the organization’s headquarters in East Baltimore – just 3 miles up the road from CareFirst’s own Baltimore offices.
Volunteers are essential to Moveable Feast’s operation, and shifts can include everything from preparing food and sealing meal kits, to bagging meals for delivery and assisting with kitchen clean-up.
“By having more volunteers, we’re able to take on more clients,” said Angie Kelly, Moveable Feast’s Volunteer Manager. “Last year, we had over 3,000 individual volunteers prepare and package meals – the equivalent of almost $1 million in donations. That’s huge.”
During a recent 3-hour shift, a group of CareFirst associates were able to prepare 1,340 hamburgers and turkey sausages and package 396 meals for Moveable Feast clients.
Learn more about Moveable Feast – including how you can volunteer – on their website.