Food Is Medicine: How a $75,000 Grant Is Bringing Health to East County’s Most Remote Communities

A bright orange Feeding San Diego sits outside the Descanso Library. Around it, volunteers empty boxes, arrange food on tables, and prepare for the mobile pantry. Descanso, like many towns in San Diego’s East County, is far from stores selling affordable groceries. For many neighbors, this pantry is a lifeline. Feeding San Diego recently received a $75,000 grant from Grossmont Healthcare District — its largest from them yet — to fund six East County mobile pantries: Alpine, Campo, Descanso, Lakeside, Potrero, and Pine Valley. This grant recognizes an essential fact: food is medicine. By supporting mobile pantries, the Grossmont Healthcare District is helping make East County a healthier place to live and work.

The Descanso Mobile Pantry

Food and Health Can’t Be Separated

The Grossmont Healthcare District is a public agency that supports the health and wellness of East County. Since 1996, the district has supported local nonprofit health and wellness organizations. Amy Abrams, the Chief Community Health Officer for Grossmont Healthcare District, explained how Feeding San Diego’s mission aligns with theirs.

“I find it nearly impossible to separate [food access] from conversations about health,” Amy shared. “Both physical health – prevention of particular diseases, management of chronic diseases, recovery from accidents, injuries, illnesses – and of course, the mental health aspect of it. Food is such an important part of our everyday living. It’s a universal human need first of all, but secondly, it’s the way that people gather.”

Food is medicine, but for many in East County, nutritious food is out of reach. Casey, a Descanso resident, knows how tough it can be to get healthy food.

“I’ve been on disability now for a few months following an injury at my last employer’s address,” she explained. “I have two kids, both very young, under 10 years old. So, we’re working to help supplement our expenses every month for our family. It was a long process for us, with appeals and everything like that. It’s been difficult. A lot of the things that we were used to, we’ve had to kind of just look away from.”

Casey, a mother of two who picks up food from the Descanso Mobile Pantry

The Unique Needs of East County

Adding to the expense of nutritious food, East County residents face unique challenges.

“There are hundreds of square miles of absolute food desert within our district boundaries — communities where people have to travel long distances to get access to anything besides gas station food, to get access to fresh produce,” Amy explained. “We’re among the oldest demographically speaking regions of the county. And so, along with age, for many people comes restricted mobility. Less ability to drive and less ability to grocery shop and prepare meals.”

The lack of access makes addressing health issues particularly difficult.

“Heart disease, cancers, diabetes, risk of stroke — those are our top health concerns in East County,” Amy explained. “In particular, hypertension is a really, really significant health issue in East County. And the primary intervention for that is food. It’s changing your diet or having regular access to fresh, not processed, foods.”

A Model That Works

Feeding San Diego’s mobile pantry program is designed to address the needs of rural communities. We go where people are. Our orange trucks travel to locations throughout the county, including six in East County, to ease the effects of food deserts and support neighbors with limited mobility. For John, an 83-year-old retiree, mobility is also a cost issue.

“We’re a low-income family to begin with,” he shared. “High costs have been affecting us quite a bit. And the price of gas. We don’t travel as much as we used to. Going to a food store, we can’t even get much. Because if we spend $150 a month, that’s a lot for us. You have to make choices.”

John, a retiree who picks up food from the Descanso Mobile Pantry

John and his wife rely on the food from the Descanso Mobile Pantry.

“I think [the pantry is] great,” he said. “It really is because it’s not too far from where we’re at. The food is good. It really supplements us quite a bit.”

Food distributions also offer an opportunity to provide additional resources.

“Everybody has to eat. No matter what else is going on in their life, you have to eat,” Amy explained. “And so it can be such a useful way of doing outreach. If you can identify someone with food insecurity and get them connected to those food resources, in all likelihood, you’re also going to identify other social or medical or financial or legal needs — whatever it might be. And now you’ve got an in with that person. You’ve earned some trust because you’ve got them fed.”

Volunteers from the Descanso Mobile Pantry

“You Are Not Forgotten.”

For Amy, this grant means more than food.

“I hope that this project says to the people who live in the rural communities of East County: there are people paying attention to you,” she shared. “You are not forgotten in San Diego County. There are organizations making investments in this community that you choose to live in. We notice you, we see you, we hear what you’re telling us, and we’re responding to that.”

That impact is felt by people like Casey, who turn to the East County mobile pantries.

“It’s a real blessing,” she shared. “Fresh produce every week is wonderful. It helps me stick to the main goal, which is providing nutritious meals for my kids and our family. Because without that, I mean, we would definitely be skimping on a lot of those things.”

When asked if she had any message for people who support Feeding San Diego, Casey said, “Keep donating. Families really, really need it right now. The high costs of food, gas, utilities, everything, you know. We live in this rural area, where there’s a lot of retirees. They’re on fixed incomes and things like that. They count on this every single month. So, it’s really, really important, and it’s really, really beneficial to the community.”

Food Is Medicine, and It’s Always Needed

Having consistent access to nutritious food is critical for health. Studies show that nutrition gaps cause higher rates of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and depression. But tight budgets make it more difficult to afford nutritious food. Feeding San Diego works to ensure that everyone in San Diego has access to nutritious food. We know that food is medicine, and we are incredibly grateful to the Grossmont Healthcare District for its generous grant. Their investment will support critical resources in East County.