Citing link between healthy food and teeth, Delta Dental donates $500,000 to Food Bank
The Kansas Food Bank will be able to provide more fruits and vegetables to those in need this summer.
Delta Dental of Kansas is giving the Kansas Food Bank $500,000 to provide healthy, more expensive food items for urban and rural communities across Kansas. It’s the largest one-time operational donation in the Food Bank’s history, according to officials who announced the gift Thursday.
“It’s really going to enable us to start our program of what we’ve been wanting to do, which is providing more nutritious food,” said Brian Walker, the President and CEO of Kansas Food Bank.
“A large percentage of the population that we serve struggles with heart disease, high blood pressure, and so we just want to make sure that they have the right foods for their diet,” Walker said.
The money from the donation will be put towards foods that have whole grains and lower sodium, along with perishable items like fruits and vegetables.
Delta Dental has partnered with the Kansas Food Bank for many years, according to CEO Michael Herbert, by providing dental care kits for children already being served by the Kansas Food Bank.
Herbert said there’s a correlation between good oral health and good health in general.
“We know that healthy food plays a great part in good oral health care, which is why Delta Dental believes this is a fabulous partnership for our company and for the Food Bank,” Herbert said.
“We are well aware that there are a lot of people in Kansas who are food insecure. They do not have enough income to buy they types of foods they need. We want to try and help change that. We want to provide for them healthy foods because we know that healthy food leads to good oral health care.”
Delta Dental is 501c4 non-profit. Herbert said the $500,000 donation comes from an excess of revenue over expenses.
“What we do with that money is we help our community, which is the state of Kansas,” Herbert said.
In a news release, Delta Dental said the donation will be used for summer programs in rural areas of the state and to increase distribution of healthier foods across the state.
The Kansas Food Bank, which started in 1984, serves 85 counties in Kansas. According to its website, it serves 215,000 people in Kansas annually.
Brian Walker is hopeful that the donation from Delta Dental of Kansas can decrease the need for the services that the Food Bank provides.
“If we can keep folks out of the emergency room, seeing their doctor, and provide them with the healthy food they need, then hopefully we can shorten that line of folks that need food.”
This story was originally published March 21, 2019 at 12:26 PM.