New food assistance program will support military families'
relocation to U.S. Army Fort Cavazos in Texas
FORT CAVAZOS, Texas, Jan. 16,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Instacart (NASDAQ: CART), the
leading grocery technology company in North America, and Military Family Advisory
Network (MFAN), a national nonprofit dedicated to supporting
military and veteran families, today announced a new partnership to
provide free groceries and delivery to military families following
relocation to a new base.
Through the initiative at U.S. Army Fort Cavazos, Instacart and
MFAN will provide over 100 military families with $100 in monthly Instacart Health Fresh Funds
stipends for three months upon relocation to the Army base in
central Texas. Families can use
the Fresh Funds stipends to purchase nutritious food and other
essentials from local retailers including, ALDI and more. The Fresh
Funds can also be used to cover the cost of delivery to help busy
military families spend more time settling into their new
communities and less time traveling to the store.
Designed to help ease the transition and resettlement process
for military families relocating to Fort Cavazos, the program is
part of a broader pilot MFAN recently announced to support
military family well being.
"MFAN believes in bringing the best partners together to meet
the data-informed needs of the military families we serve. As we
identify dignified, scalable, and measurable solutions to support
those experiencing food insecurity, there was no better solution
than Instacart and the Fresh Funds stipend," said MFAN President
and Executive Director Shannon
Razsadin. "We know that food insecurity is a symptom of
broader challenges. Through the MFANetwork, together alongside
Instacart and our other partners, we will connect families to a
network of support while simultaneously ensuring their family has
immediate access to healthy food."
The program is also part of Instacart's and MFAN's continuing
efforts to advance the White House's National Strategy on Hunger,
Nutrition and Health. As part of that strategy to end hunger and
reduce the incidence of diet-related disease, the White House
challenged public and private sector organizations to work together
to expand access to nutritious food for communities that have
historically faced high rates of food insecurity, including the
military community.
One in six military and veteran families experience food
insecurity or hunger, according to MFAN's latest research,
higher than the national average (12%). Among enlisted families,
that number climbs to nearly one in four families. Texas is among the states that MFAN's
2021 survey respondents reported the highest frequencies of
military and veteran family food insecurity (26.1%).
The organization's research also found that frequent and
sometimes sudden permanent change of station (PCS) moves cause even
more strain on families, including financial stress due to moving
costs and cost-of-living changes.
"Instacart is on a mission to help every family access the
nutritious food they need, and that includes families who sacrifice
so much for our country every single day," said Laura Anderson, Director of Social Impact at
Instacart. "With food insecurity rates rising in the military
community and relocation demands contributing added stress and
strain for families, we're proud to partner with MFAN and use our
Instacart Health technology to help ensure members of the military
and their families get a fresh — and healthy — start in their new
homes at Fort Cavazos."
The military relocation assistance program at Fort Cavazos is
part of Instacart's work under its sweeping Instacart Health
initiative. Through Instacart Health, the company is using its
technology, partnerships, research and advocacy to fight nutrition
insecurity, inspire healthy choices, and scale food as medicine
programs.
Sign up for program updates at mfan.org/connect.
About MFAN
The Military Family Advisory
Network envisions a world where all military connected families are
empowered to thrive. MFAN's mission is to understand and amplify
the needs of military-connected families and inspire data-informed
change. Visit www.mfan.org.
About Instacart
Instacart, the leading
grocery technology company in North
America, works with grocers and retailers to transform how
people shop. The company partners with more than 1,400 national,
regional, and local retail banners to facilitate online shopping,
delivery and pickup services from more than 80,000 stores across
North America on the Instacart
Marketplace. Instacart makes it possible for millions of people to
get the groceries they need from the retailers they love, and for
approximately 600,000 Instacart shoppers to earn by picking,
packing and delivering orders on their own flexible schedule. The
Instacart Platform offers retailers a suite of enterprise-grade
technology products and services to power their e-commerce
experiences, fulfill orders, digitize brick-and-mortar stores,
provide advertising services, and glean insights. With Instacart
Ads, thousands of CPG brands – from category leaders to emerging
brands – partner with the company to connect directly with
consumers online, right at the point of purchase. With Instacart
Health, the company is providing tools to increase nutrition
security, make healthy choices easier for consumers, and expand the
role that food can play in improving health outcomes. For more
information, visit www.instacart.com/company, and to start
shopping, visit www.instacart.com.
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SOURCE Instacart