PRESS RELEASE—FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Minnetonka, Minnesota (October XX, 2021)— A brand new collaboration between ICA Food Shelf and Hopkins Schools will bring food and additional resources right into the school building. Organizers of the ICA Market & Resource Center at Gatewood Elementary held an open house on Wednesday, October 20 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Community leaders and local media had an opportunity to chat with organizers and tour the space before the pilot program officially opens to students on October 27. The ICA Market & Resource Center will open twice a week throughout the 2021-2022 school year. A multilingual team will staff the market and work with families while they are shopping. To help support the Center, the Cigna Foundation provided a $65,000 grant as part of its Healthier Kids For Our Future® program, a five-year, $25 million global initiative launched in 2019 focused on improving the health and well-being of children.
“With this pandemic, we thought it was a wonderful opportunity to have Gatewood establish itself as a true community school,” explains Gatewood Elementary Principal Doctor George Nolan. “We know we have families who are food insecure who would benefit from these services.”
On a weekly basis, ICA will source and deliver a wide range of culturally specific fresh produce, dairy, proteins, grains and shelf stable foods. The market team will provide additional support to families with significant barriers to accessing food.
“The market at Gatewood Elementary will give students consistent and convenient healthy food options,” explains ICA Food Shelf Executive Director Dan Narr. “This not only eases food insecurity, but also helps kids focus on school. The partnership will help families build relationships with ICA staff that could lead to housing or employment support.”
“This Center will provide local families with healthy and nutritious food as well as other essential support to help improve their health, wellbeing and peace of mind,” said Brian Marsella, Midwest market president for Cigna. “We are proud to be a part of this important community resource that will help address food insecurity and other health disparities that affect too many children in our area.”
ICA Food Shelf serves the communities of Hopkins, Minnetonka, Excelsior, Shorewood, Deephaven, Greenwood and Woodland and is a social services agency offering food, financial assistance and employment assistance to families in the western suburbs of Minneapolis.
Contact: John Wojcik: 801.558.3325, john@icafoodshelf.org
http://icafoodshelf.org/ | http://hopkinsschools.org/
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