{"id":7735,"date":"2020-12-31T12:13:06","date_gmt":"2020-12-31T17:13:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/?p=7735"},"modified":"2020-12-31T12:13:11","modified_gmt":"2020-12-31T17:13:11","slug":"local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Local food recovery program looks to community for help"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>By Tiffany Merlo Phelps&nbsp;<br>mail@floridanewsline.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When student Alexis Harp first volunteered with the University of North Florida\u2019s \u201cMeals on Wings\u201d program, she thought the program sounded great, but she was mostly thinking about earning service hours for her nutrition degree.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt became so much more than the hours,\u201d said Harp, a University of North Florida senior and Student Issues Committee chair for the Florida Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She also serves as the Nutrition and Dietetics Leadership Association treasurer. \u201cThe passion for this program is obvious. We get to hand-deliver meals to seniors, and you can tell how appreciative they are.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Dr. Jenifer Ross, University of North Florida assistant professor and Director of Didactic Program in Dietetics for the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Meals on Wings began in the summer of 2018 as a way to serve homebound seniors on a wait list for Meals on Wheels in Duval County. Currently, 85 seniors are fed five meals a week with food donated by Brooks Rehabilitation and Baptist Health Systems that would otherwise be wasted.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Student volunteers pick up the donated food and transport it in a refrigerated van back to the UNF Nutrition and Dietetics kitchen and repackage it into healthful balanced meals using Registered Dietician professors such as Ross to oversee the meal prep. About 28,000 pounds of food has been recovered and more than 20,500 meals have been delivered so far, said Ross.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ross said the group looks at texture, color and balance and sends meals that they are willing to eat as well. All meals are labeled with the date, an ingredient list and heating instructions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe deliver with integrity,\u201d said Ross. \u201cIt is really special, and it is more than a meal.\u201d Harp, who plans to become a Registered Dietician, agreed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe aim for colorful meals with different textures. We want the meals to be enticing and exciting,\u201d she said. \u201cWe really get to see how food insecurity affects patient outcomes.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In some cases, the student volunteer is the only person the homebound senior will see all day, and it can sometimes be their only meal, Ross said. Thanksgiving meals were made special this year when a University of North Florida faculty member donated holiday ingredients for the group to prepare so that seniors received a traditional meal complete with pumpkin pie.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Harp, who has been a volunteer since August 2019, can attest to the strong relationships often formed between students and seniors. In fact, delivery is her favorite part of the program. During the pandemic, Harp called some of the seniors on her route just to check on them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI have learned so much about food insecurity, and I am much more empathetic now seeing this first hand,\u201d said Harp. \u201cIt is heartbreaking.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ross said COVID made it more difficult to run the program, but meals never stopped being prepped and delivered during this time, and Meals on Wings strictly follows all health and safety guidelines. Also,&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>additional seniors needing meals were added as a result of the pandemic, and Ross intends to keep these seniors on their delivery list.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Baptist Health Community Investment and Impact Vice President Melanie Patz said Baptist values its partnership with Meals on Wings.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBaptist Health\u2019s vision of \u2018A Lifetime of Health, Together,\u2019 calls for us to reach outside of our walls to ensure people have everything they need to be healthy, including access to healthy food. We are pleased to provide funding and food to Meals on Wings to ensure vulnerable seniors on a waiting list for home-delivered meals have healthy food to eat.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meals on Wings\u2019 future goals include expanding the year-round program to reach more seniors by finding more business partnerships. Ross surveys clients when they first start the program and then three to six months later to evaluate well-being, nutrition, loneliness and food security. Ross works with area agencies to identify the seniors at the highest nutrition risk.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTypically, all of these categories improve, and this survey helps to show that the program is working. And this helps with funding,\u201d said Ross, adding that the program is completely volunteer run and grant funded.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unf.edu\/brooks\/Center_for_Nutrition_and_Food_Security\/\">www.unf.edu\/brooks\/Center_for_Nutrition_and_Food_Security\/<\/a> for more information on Meals on Wings or to donate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Photo courtesy Jenifer Ross&nbsp;<br>Meal preparation at the University of North Florida<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Tiffany Merlo Phelps&nbsp;mail@floridanewsline.com When student Alexis Harp first volunteered with the University of North Florida\u2019s \u201cMeals on Wings\u201d program, she thought the program sounded great, but she was mostly thinking about earning service hours for her nutrition degree.&nbsp; \u201cIt became so much more than the hours,\u201d said Harp, a University of North Florida senior [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7702,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7735","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-creekline-st-johns","8":"category-mandarin","9":"category-ponte-vedra"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Local food recovery program looks to community for help - Florida NewsLine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"CreekLine, Mandarin NewsLine, Ponte Vedra NewsLineBy Tiffany Merlo Phelps&nbsp;mail@floridanewsline.com When student Alexis Harp first volunteered with the University of North Florida\u2019s \u201cMeals on Wings\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Local food recovery program looks to community for help - Florida NewsLine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CreekLine, Mandarin NewsLine, Ponte Vedra NewsLineBy Tiffany Merlo Phelps&nbsp;mail@floridanewsline.com When student Alexis Harp first volunteered with the University of North Florida\u2019s \u201cMeals on Wings\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Florida NewsLine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheFloridaNewsLine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-31T17:13:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-31T17:13:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/PVN-Meals-on-Wings-2101A-LO.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"460\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"613\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@floridanewsline\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@floridanewsline\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/\",\"name\":\"Local food recovery program looks to community for help - Florida NewsLine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/PVN-Meals-on-Wings-2101A-LO.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-31T17:13:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-31T17:13:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#\/schema\/person\/f112e5505697e0e24f438c3562ad0fcc\"},\"description\":\"CreekLine, Mandarin NewsLine, Ponte Vedra NewsLineBy Tiffany Merlo Phelps&nbsp;mail@floridanewsline.com When student Alexis Harp first volunteered with the University of North Florida\u2019s \u201cMeals on Wings\u201d\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/PVN-Meals-on-Wings-2101A-LO.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/PVN-Meals-on-Wings-2101A-LO.jpg\",\"width\":460,\"height\":613},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Local food recovery program looks to community for help\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/\",\"name\":\"Florida NewsLine\",\"description\":\"The Newspapers Everybody Gets\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#\/schema\/person\/f112e5505697e0e24f438c3562ad0fcc\",\"name\":\"editor\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/author\/editor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Local food recovery program looks to community for help - Florida NewsLine","description":"CreekLine, Mandarin NewsLine, Ponte Vedra NewsLineBy Tiffany Merlo Phelps&nbsp;mail@floridanewsline.com When student Alexis Harp first volunteered with the University of North Florida\u2019s \u201cMeals on Wings\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Local food recovery program looks to community for help - Florida NewsLine","og_description":"CreekLine, Mandarin NewsLine, Ponte Vedra NewsLineBy Tiffany Merlo Phelps&nbsp;mail@floridanewsline.com When student Alexis Harp first volunteered with the University of North Florida\u2019s \u201cMeals on Wings\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/","og_site_name":"Florida NewsLine","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheFloridaNewsLine\/","article_published_time":"2020-12-31T17:13:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-12-31T17:13:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":460,"height":613,"url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/PVN-Meals-on-Wings-2101A-LO.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@floridanewsline","twitter_site":"@floridanewsline","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"editor","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/","url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/","name":"Local food recovery program looks to community for help - Florida NewsLine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/PVN-Meals-on-Wings-2101A-LO.jpg","datePublished":"2020-12-31T17:13:06+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-31T17:13:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#\/schema\/person\/f112e5505697e0e24f438c3562ad0fcc"},"description":"CreekLine, Mandarin NewsLine, Ponte Vedra NewsLineBy Tiffany Merlo Phelps&nbsp;mail@floridanewsline.com When student Alexis Harp first volunteered with the University of North Florida\u2019s \u201cMeals on Wings\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/PVN-Meals-on-Wings-2101A-LO.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/PVN-Meals-on-Wings-2101A-LO.jpg","width":460,"height":613},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/local-food-recovery-program-looks-to-community-for-help\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Local food recovery program looks to community for help"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#website","url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/","name":"Florida NewsLine","description":"The Newspapers Everybody Gets","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/#\/schema\/person\/f112e5505697e0e24f438c3562ad0fcc","name":"editor","url":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/author\/editor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7735"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7744,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7735\/revisions\/7744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}