Frederick Food Security Network Wins Award for Environmental Engagement

FREDERICK, Maryland—Hood College’s Frederick Food Security Network (FFSN) was established to combat food insecurity in Frederick County, Maryland, and the Chesapeake Bay Trust is honoring the project with the Melanie Teems Award for environmental engagement.

This award is given by the Trust annually to recognize a project or program that engages residents in efforts to improve the Chesapeake region’s natural resources, serves as a model for other organizations, and motivates and inspires others by promoting environmental engagement throughout the community. This award, named after the longest-serving staff member of the Trust, indicates that the reviewers were very impressed with the program’s innovative, collaborative approach and its ability to address multiple community needs.

The FFSN, which launched in 2018, aims to provide healthy produce to those who cannot afford it and who live in food deserts. Food deserts are areas where a high percentage of people fall below the federal poverty line and where there isn’t an easily accessible grocery store. In Frederick city alone, it is estimated that more than 500 families are affected by food deserts.

Thanks to grant funding and volunteer work, this network grew more than 1,500 pounds of produce in 2018 that reached approximately 400 Frederick families. Together with its partners, in 2018 the FFSN engaged nearly 200 community volunteers in more than 1,300 volunteer hours, including numerous Hood College students, staff and faculty.

Media Contact