Foothills Food Hub
Located In: McDowell County
Counties Served: McDowell, Burke, Catawba, and Rutherford
Overview
The Foothills Food Hub is a program of the McDowell Local Food Advisory Council (McDowell LFAC). Foothills Food Hub’s mission is to improve the food systems in our region. This includes supporting better access to farmers and food producers, all while fostering deeper connections to our community.
Major Programs
Food as Medicine:
Medicaid Transformation: Foothills Food Hub is a participating Human Service Organization (HSO) for North Carolina’s Medicaid Transformation’s Healthy Opportunity Pilot program. Through this program, we provide healthy food boxes for pickup or delivery to eligible Medicaid recipients referred to the program by their medical provider.
Mission Hospital Employee CSA program: Foothills Food Hub offers a CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) program for Mission Hospital employees as part of an employee wellness initiative. CSA boxes are ordered from the NC Farmers of the Foothills online marketplace.
“Produce for Peds” Program: Foothills Food Hub provides produce for a local pediatric clinic, which hosts a table of free fresh food for patients to take as-needed. This is a home-grown food as medicine initiative spearheaded by a local pediatrician; no referrals or demonstration of need is required to participate!
Community Food Access
Faith-based food security coalitions: in partnership with faith-and-community-based organizations, Foothills Food Hub provides fresh, quality local food to those in need. Our amazing pantry leaders across the county provide much needed food for folks who need it most.
McDowell Access to Care and Health (MATCH) partnership: This partnership allows Foothills Food Hub to deliver a household food box to McDowell residents in need. Interested residents should contact the MATCH program and a MATCH representative will coordinate delivery.
FarmSHARE: Foothills Food Hub participates in Carolina Farm Stewardship Association’s FarmSHARE program, sourcing locally-grown produce from small, sustainable farms and distributing it to those in need through our many community partnerships.
Direct Sales
NC Farmers of the Foothills online marketplace: Through our online marketplace, NC Farmers of the Foothills, customers can shop from local vendors for a variety of local food products (including local produce, meat, jams and jellies, honey, breads, and more) for weekly pick-up at the food hub.
Local Food Promotion
Foothills Food Hub facility: cold storage, a wash line and commercial kitchen are available for farmers to use at our facility in Nebo, NC. Foothills Food Hub works closely with Cooperative Extension and other agency and community partners to provide nutrition education and other resources to promote local, healthy food consumption.
McDowell Local Food Advisory Council: As a project of the McDowell Local Food Advisory Council, the food hub works hand-in-hand with the other projects of the Council to increase accessibility and demand for local food.
