Fresh for You Market

By Amanda Jepson | Categories: | Comments Off on Fresh for You Market

Eskenazi Health has a strong belief in the concept of food as medicine, a pillar of the health system’s Beyond Barriers campaign. In Indianapolis, 41 percent of children younger than age 5 suffer from malnutrition, and in Marion County, 21 percent of residents live in a food desert. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 200,000 county residents identified as food insecure. Through the Fresh for You Market and the Fresh for You Market on Wheels, Eskenazi Health is combating food insecurity in the community and providing residents with access to nutritional and affordable food.

The Fresh for You Market, a grocery store and food pantry, is located on the Eskenazi Health downtown campus on a bus route easily accessible to the community. The self-sustaining Market is open to the public, and proceeds from sales directly fund the Fresh for You Market voucher program. This program provides patients who screen positive for food insecurity during clinic visits with free food vouchers to shop at the market. The Fresh for You Market on Wheels is a mobile version of the market that parks at a different location throughout Indianapolis each weekday. A nutrition navigator on board helps patients pick foods for specific diets and conditions, and a chef prepares hot meals and hosts cooking demonstrations.

The Fresh for You Market and Market on Wheels would not be possible without community partners. The downtown market partners with a local food bank, and the market on wheels partners with local produce vendors, public transportation, the Indiana Department of Health, and other government agencies.

Since opening in June 2017, the Fresh for You Market has been a key food resource for patients, residents, and health system staff. In the first full year of operation, the Market served 6,200 people. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the market opened to health system employees working long hours who were unable to make it to the grocery store. The Fresh for You Market on Wheels, launched in July 2023, is making its way to for access to food in a social needs screening.