Freshplace: An innovative food pantry with promising results in Hartford, CT

Introduction: For over 30 years, emergency food programs have grown in number so that nearly every community in the U.S. has a food pantry, and food insecurity is at record high levels. Freshplace is an innovative fresh food pantry and resource collaborative in Hartford, CT developed by three community organizations. The goals are to address the root causes of hunger and increase food security and self sufficiency of low-income households. Methods: Randomized control study to compare the Freshplace intervention with a comparison group with repeated measures at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Main outcomes are food security and self sufficiency; additional factors include BMI and diet quality; mediating factors include social support and self efficacy. Currently 140 people have been recruited into the study, 71 in the intervention and 69 in the comparison group. Results: At baseline, 81% of households were food insecure, including almost half (49%) who experienced hunger. Most participants are in poor health; 64% have high blood pressure and 72% are overweight or obese. At 3 months, Freshplace clients had significantly improved food security scores (p<.01), and significantly higher scores than the Comparison group (p<.01). Freshplace clients also had significantly greater social support (p=.03), and significant increases in fruit and vegetable intakes (p=.04) compared to the Comparison group. No significant differences in self sufficiency at 3 months. Discussion: This is the first food pantry intervention to be evaluated. Freshplace opened in July 2010 and is showing promising results that can be disseminated to other community-based initiatives.