The eastern, central and western Upper Peninsula all face unique challenges when it comes to food insecurity. Yet, overall, the work to end hunger in the UP requires addressing individual needs and food-system challenges. Partners like the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation are chipping away at some of the root causes of food insecurity while also supporting individual community members with programming.
Copper Shores Community Health Foundation opened in 2013 to build on the legacy of the former Portage Health Foundation and Portage Health Hospital. When Portage Health Hospital was sold and the assets given back to the community, Copper Shores was created as a health-focused community foundation. Since then, the foundation has been dedicated to providing an abundance of resources to the Copper Country community, which includes Baraga, Houghton, Keweenaw, and Ontonagon counties.
“Each year, we take a percentage of earnings off the investment and invest in programming within the community,” said Kevin Store, CEO of Copper Shores Community Health Foundation. “That includes programming to solve mental health, substance use, and health access. The programs are really focusing on social determinants of health. Good nutrition and food insecurity are one of those major areas that we’ve been focusing on.”
When it comes to food insecurity, Cooper Shores Health Foundation works to address it from four angles: awareness, access, education, and affordability.
“We are looking at this as an ecosystem,” Kevin said. “We’re trying to build capacity on all fronts to better combat the issue of food insecurity in our community. How do we influence the food system locally to make it more affordable for farmers to grow and distribute their product? How do we make it more affordable for people who want to get access to it and buy it? We do everything — funding the local farmers market collective, helping to provide support to our local farm community, helping work on CSA (community-supported agriculture) shares that were being distributed to families in the community.”
The foundation also hired a registered dietitian to run workshops and a healthy cooking program. The dietician also supports families with infant feeding programs.
The Copper Shores Community Foundation is one of several valued partners working with us to end hunger in the Upper Peninsula. We thank the foundation for working with us to end hunger in Copper Country.