Food Security
Coalition
Bringing together community members and food system partners to improve access to healthy, sufficient, and culturally meaningful food.
Interested in joining us? Sign up for our monthly newsletter to learn about upcoming Coalition meetings and ways to get involved.
Coalition Priorities
The Food Security Coalition brings together partners committed to ensuring that everyone in Greenville County can access healthy, affordable food — regardless of zip code or circumstance. Together, we work on strategies that meet urgent needs while building a more resilient local food system for the future.
Child Food Security
Every child deserves consistent access to nutritious food — from their earliest weeks through the years they spend in school and beyond. The Food Security Coalition works with schools, childcare providers, and local partners to make sure that’s possible, closing the gaps that can quietly shape a child’s development. We believe that no child in Greenville County should go hungry.
Formula Bank
For families with newborns, the window between birth and WIC enrollment can be a critical gap. The Formula Bank provides short-term formula assistance to bridge that gap, ensuring infants have what they need during their most vulnerable weeks.
Backpack Programs
When the school week ends, access to meals shouldn’t. Backpack Programs send students home on Fridays with food for the weekend, reaching children across Greenville County who rely on school meals as their primary source of nutrition during the week.
Summer Break Café
Summer is one of the highest-risk periods for child food insecurity. Through Summer Break Café, the coalition expands and promotes summer meal sites so children can continue accessing food — and the supportive spaces that come with it — when school is out.
Healthy Food Access
Knowing where to go to get nutritious food and being able to afford it are two different things. For many families, both can feel out of reach. The Food Security Coalition works with local farmers, healthcare providers, and community organizations to change that — making fresh, nutritious food genuinely within reach for every family, regardless of zip code or circumstance.
Food is Medicine
Health and food are inseparable. Through Food is Medicine initiatives, pediatric patients experiencing food insecurity receive fresh produce and hands-on support navigating SNAP and other resources — meeting families inside the healthcare system, where trust is already established.
Farmers’ Market Food Access Programs
Fresh fruits and vegetables should be within reach for every family — regardless of budget. The Food Security Coalition works closely with local farmers markets across Greenville County to increase purchasing power for SNAP participants and seniors, making healthy, locally grown food more accessible in communities where it can be hardest to find.
Emergency Food Systems
A community’s food system is only as strong as the network behind it. The Food Security Coalition invests in the pantries, partners, and plans that keep Greenville County’s food network running — strengthening the day-to-day infrastructure that families rely on, and making sure that in moments of crisis, the community knows where to go and partners are ready to meet them there.
Pantry Training & Technical Assistance
More than 30,000 pantry visits take place every month in Greenville County — and the Food Security Coalition works to make sure every one of those visits is a dignified, effective experience. Through hands-on training and technical assistance, the coalition equips pantries with the tools, skills, and systems they need to expand client choice, improve access to nutritious food, and better serve the neighbors who walk through their doors.
Emergency Food Response Planning
When disruptions hit — a government shutdown, a natural disaster, an unexpected crisis — the difference between chaos and coordination is a plan. Through Emergency Food Response Planning, the Food Security Coalition brings partners together before emergencies occur, aligning resources, strengthening communication, and building the shared infrastructure that allows Greenville County’s food network to mobilize quickly when families need help most.
Get involved!
- Attend quarterly Coalition Partner Meetings to see what we are up to and share community feedback. Email Susan Frantz for more information.
- Subscribe to our newsletter below and follow @livewellgreenville on social media.
