Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Indiana said it will commit $661,000 over the next three years to four food banks around the state to assist those organizations provide food to people in need.
The Merrillville-based Food Bank of Northwest Indiana as well as Community Harvest Food Bank in Fort Wayne; Terre Haute Catholic Charities Foodbank, and Hoosier Hills Food Bank in Bloomington are the recipients of Anthem’s contributions.
“We have been connected to Indiana communities for more than 75 years, dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of Hoosiers,” said Neil Steffens, president of Anthem’s Medicare central region. “We know that, working with Community Harvest Food Bank and Food Bank of Northwest Indiana, we will have a greater impact on the challenge of food insecurity than we would working as individual organizations.”
This latest financial commitment from Anthem’s is part of its ongoing efforts to address food insecurity, which also includes support of food banks in Indianapolis, Evansville, and Lafayette. Earlier this year, Anthem Foundation and LISC Indianapolis launched a three-year initiative to improve food access and help build a more equitable food system.
Anthem’s support allows the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana to acquire more than 648,000 pounds of food, serve more than 540,000 meals, and provide additional assistance through its Mobile Market food distribution program, which routinely serves between 250 and 500 households.
“We have been a vital source of food assistance for Hoosiers in Northwest Indiana for nearly 40 years and we will continue to work toward creating a community free of hunger,” said Victor Garcia, CEO of The Food Bank of Northwest Indiana. “Our work with Anthem is part of our approach in collaborating with members of the community to help individuals in need (and) with this multi-year partnership, the (we are) better positioned to plan for and respond to the food insecurity needs of our friends and neighbors in Lake and Porter counties.”
