About a mile from where finishing touches are being put on Elanco Animal Health’s new corporate headquarters in West Indianapolis, the food pantry at the Mary Rigg Neighborhood Center is being pushed to the limit.
“If you come by any Wednesday, you will see 100 of our neighbors lined up along this building (for our pantry). The reason they line up is because we have milk, eggs, cheese, bread — you name it — and we run out,” said Mary Rigg president Heather Pease.
The area has become a hotspot for new development, but despite the progress there, neighborhood residents are having trouble making ends meet. The average household income in the neighborhood is $40,245, or about $23,000 less than what the rest of Marion County makes. With the price of food and housing on the rise, that’s often not enough to cover necessities.
Amy Berns said she sees that struggle in her school’s classrooms every day.
“When you feel hungry, you can’t think. You’re tired, lethargic and you might act out,” said Berns, who has been principal at Edison School of the Arts for the last 10 years. “Sometimes, you might not be able to see it physically on a student, but by speaking with parents we know that sometimes the food our students get at school is the only food they have access to.”
On Aug. 12, Elanco announced it’s spearheading a new program that will help give Edison families the nutrition they need to thrive while getting data to show how proper nutrition impacts communities.
“We believe that everybody has the right to high-quality food,” Elanco CEO Jeff Simmons said. “Candidly, when you don’t have it, you don’t develop the eating habits for it and the cycle begins that can put people on the wrong path. And our goal is to change that with something that’s never been done before.”
Nutrition Secure Indy
Elanco has partnered with Carmel-based Hatch for Hunger, Gleaners Food Bank, IU Health and other Indianapolis-area nonprofits to start the Nutrition Secure Indy program, which will provide weekly groceries and crucial training for about 250 Edison families in the coming weeks.
Cassandra Erbeck, a pediatric dietician at Riley Children’s Health, said the program was about filling childrens’ bellies with high-quality protein sources, which are often the hardest for families to access when budgets are stretched or when grocery stores are far away.
“Sometimes we see hallmark signs of malnutrition, like slowed growth, poor weight gain and low energy,” Erbeck said. “But more often we see something less obvious: diet monotony, anxiety around food and eating and excess weight gain caused by diets heavy in low-cost, highly-processed foods.”
To ensure program families receive the right nutrition, they will receive a weekly box with about 8 pounds of meat protein, such as chicken, pork and beef, and a 12-pound box of fruits and vegetables.
Families will also get access to financial planning and courses in nutrition, cooking and gardening. The program offers education and enrollment help for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and its counterpart for women, infants and children, known as WIC.
Hatch for Hunger CEO Daniel Leckie said the program will help fuel the community.
“This program is a hand up. It’s not a hand out,” Leckie said. “It’s about giving (westside families) the tools that they need to turn ingredients into nourishment and nourishment into opportunity.”
Evidence for aid
Besides ensuring that Edison families get fed, the program will also help provide research on the impact of proper nutrition — evidence that could be used to provide the basis for similar aid in the future.
“From our knowledge, this has not been done before,” Simmons said. “I think making this really sustainable and really impactful (will) create a framework for future change. We’re thinking beyond the west side of Indianapolis. This program will include measurable outcomes. It will include education programming to deliver sustainable change and deliver tangible data illustrating the profound impact of proper nutrition.”
The ultimate goal, Simmons said, is to create a healthier Indianapolis.
It’s a goal Berns agrees with.
“This is going to be life-changing for so many of our families,” the Edison principal said.
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Mirror Indy reporter Enrique Saenz covers west Indianapolis. Contact him at 317-983-4203 or enrique.saenz@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on Bluesky at @enriquesaenz.bsky.social.
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