The DaVita Giving Foundation, a private charitable organization created by DaVita Inc., today announced a $1.4 million grant to the Food Is Medicine Coalition (FIMC), a national association of 25 nonprofit organizations across the country focused on addressing the dual crises of illness and hunger.
Food insecurity affects 10% of the country—and nearly one third of low-income families.1 The DaVita Giving Foundation shares the coalition's goal to help promote better health outcomes by making food and nutrition central to health care. The "food is medicine" concept generally refers to prioritizing food and diet in an individual's health plan, with the goal of either preventing, reducing symptoms of, or reversing a disease state.
"DaVita has long been a community-driven organization committed to supporting causes that uplift those we serve, This investment aligns with DaVita's strategy to significantly improve individual and community health for those with kidney disease. We recognize the critical health impact food insecurity can have on kidney health and are thrilled to support the FIMC to provide medically tailored nutrition to individuals in need."
-Javier Rodriguez, CEO for DaVita.
This grant will help FIMC provide more than 100,000 medically-tailored meals to people with food insecurity and medical nutrition needs, including individuals living with end stage kidney disease, through four FIMC nonprofit members in the following markets:
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Sacramento, Calif., through Project Open Hand
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Los Angeles, through Project Angel Food
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Minneapolis, through Open Arms Minnesota
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Orlando, Fla., through Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida
"At FIMC, we believe that food is medicine and that nutrition is integral to disease management, With the support of the DaVita Giving Foundation, FIMC is able to further its mission to produce better health outcomes, lower the cost of care and improve patient satisfaction through diet and nutrition."
-Karen Pearl, Chair of the Food is Medicine Coalition and President & CEO of God's Love We Deliver.
In selecting grant recipients, the DaVita Giving Foundation seeks to address pressing social determinants of health facing kidney patients, including access to transplantation resources, provision of transportation services and alleviation of food insecurity.
In addition to its grant program, the DaVita Giving Foundation funds DaVita's Dollars for Doers program. Through Dollars for Doers, DaVita teammates (employees) receive a $15 credit per volunteer hour logged to donate to a nonprofit of their choice, up to $500 per year. Teammates may also choose to donate their own money to a nonprofit through the company's platform and have their donations matched, up to $500 each year.
In 2021, DaVita identified healthy communities as a key aspect of its ESG initiative. With the establishment of the DaVita Giving Foundation, the kidney care provider aims to further identify giving opportunities that create scalable impact towards these goals while enhancing its community stewardship in areas it serves.
About DaVita Inc:
DaVita (NYSE: DVA) is a health care provider focused on transforming care delivery to improve quality of life for patients globally. The company is one of the largest providers of kidney care services in the U.S. and has been a leader in clinical quality and innovation for more than 20 years. DaVita cares for patients at every stage and setting along their kidney health journey—from slowing the progression of kidney disease to helping to support transplantation, from acute hospital care to dialysis at home. As of June 30, 2022, DaVita served 198,000 patients at 2,808 outpatient dialysis centers in the United States. The company also operated 349 outpatient dialysis centers in 11 other countries worldwide. DaVita has reduced hospitalizations, improved mortality, and worked collaboratively to propel the kidney care industry to adopt an equitable and high-quality standard of care for all patients, everywhere.
About the Food Is Medicine Coalition:
The Food Is Medicine Coalition (FIMC) is a coalition of nonprofit medically tailored meal providers who serve people in communities across the country who are too sick to shop or cook for themselves. Medically tailored meals (MTMs) are delivered to individuals living with severe illness through a referral from a medical professional or healthcare plan. Meal plans are tailored to the medical needs of the recipient by a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN), and are designed to improve health outcomes, lower cost of care and increase patient satisfaction. Because of their complicated medical conditions, most of our clients are unable to eat the food offered by many other home-delivered meal providers. MTMs are delivered to an individual's home. In the last year, collectively, FIMC MTM providers served over 11 million meals to over 48,000 people across multiple states and the District of Columbia. Clients living with a primary diagnosis of HIV, cancer or diabetes made up the majority of those that received meals from FIMC agencies in the last year, however, the plurality of clients live with multiple diagnoses at once.