“When the shelter-in-place order was announced,” Victoria Ramirez, the Director of Policy and Communication of the Health Trust says, “we immediately stepped up to increase home-delivered meals for older adults and other medically vulnerable residents in Santa Clara County through the Meals on Wheels program.”

@TheHealthTrust is one of many nonprofits that work tirelessly to address food insecurity throughout Silicon Valley. From individual residents taking initiative to large scale organizations, the community has been swift to provide food resources to those in need. In April and May, when the need was at its highest, #SiliconValleyStrong distributed over 2,000,000 meals a week and the Health Trust was there to help out. 

The Health Trust has served Silicon Valley since 1996, its mission to ensure health in our community. They have built up a strong organization and team that became very important to the food distribution. However, they are always looking to find new talent and skills to help make their mission a success. 

During the height of demand, Barbara Bremner joined the Health Trust’s Medically Tailored Meals team. Originally from South Africa, Bremner came to the United States for graduate studies in international nutrition. Since then, she has spent thirty years serving the community through her work with nonprofits and government agencies including WIC (Women, Infants, and Children supplemental nutrition program).   

This kind of experience made her the perfect fit for the Health Trust’s Medically Tailored Meals team. This team provides “nutritionally appropriate food to meet the complex health conditions of our most vulnerable populations.” Working at The Health Trust gives her the opportunity to be part of the important distribution food network while finding ways to improve inequalities. Bremner not only enjoys her work, she recognizes the big picture role that her team plays in getting food to those who need it the most. 

“I feel passionately about equity in many areas, including education, housing, health and, yes, food access.” 

Currently, she manages the Medically Tailored Meals program, which “provides participants, who are all medically fragile and Medi-Cal beneficiaries, with three home-delivered meals per day for twelve weeks.” 

Barbara also shared with us why this particular program is so impactful and important for the community: “Medically Tailored Meals have been proven to improve the health outcomes of participants, decrease hospitalizations and significantly decrease costly health care expenses. These outcomes are particularly important for low-income individuals who are disproportionately impacted by chronic health conditions and a lack of access to nutritious food.”

Bremner and her team are a crucial part of the Health Trust’s mission to provide food to members of our community that face food insecurity, helping people stay healthy.

To meet the demand of food insecurity, we depend on the skills of #FoodHeroes like Barbara. Many #FoodHeroes have stepped up across the valley to serve the community. Thanks to these heroes, both volunteers and employees, the #SiliconValleyStrong network have been hard at work, helping families with food insecurity.

While the #FoodHeroes mission continues on, their hard work is resulting in a strong food distribution network and families getting the help they need.

If you are need, you can find food resources on the Silicon Valley Strong online map bit.ly/SVStrongFood. You can also call 800-984-3663 or text GETFOOD to 408-455-5181 to request assistance.