BOISE, Idaho — Yogurt giant Chobani is working to end hunger in the communities it serves by making healthy food more available through local partnerships.
Chobani’s Chief Impact Officer, Nishant Roy, said the number of families requesting food in the Twin Falls area has increased.
"We had learned that hunger was on the rise across the country, around 30%, and in the Magic Valley, specifically, we learned that Since the pandemic, hunger has actually increased by 40% and there's a shortfall of about a million pounds of food that needs to be reached into Twin Falls, as well as in the Jerome County." Said Roy.
Their latest project is named "Lola.”
Working with community partners like St. Luke's, Glambia, and the Idaho Food Bank, they stationed a 28-foot refrigerated trailer in the St. Luke’s Magic Valley parking lot to house perishable foods like eggs, dairy and produce.
The hope is to provide 2,500 healthy meals for families in the Magic Valley each week.
"We want to make sure that we're getting more nutritious food out into the community. And why is this important to us? It's because we believe that access to nutrient dense food is a basic human right." Roy said.
St. Luke’s is providing power to the trailer and the Idaho Food Bank will help manage inventory and work with local food pantries to get the food items out to people in need.
“This started literally just a week ago, and there's that there's so much more to learn from here, but we're very, very excited and encouraged, not only from folks in the community, but then also to see all these different sectors coming together to really advance the cause against hunger," Roy said.
The impact has already been felt through the Twin Falls and Jerome communities just a week after launching.
Roy said his team has heard that food is making its way to where it is needed.