Hamtramck’s only client choice food pantry

We want to welcome each and everyone to our pantry where you are seen, heard, and understood. We believe in the dignity of choosing your own food. Boxed food packages, where food goes wasted or does not meet your family’s nutritional needs is a thing of the past. That’s why our food pantry is a client-choice food pantry. We want everyone to be empowered to choose the foods they want to eat and feed their families thus reducing food waste and ensuring culturally relavant foods are available in our pantry.

Empowered Choice

Our partnership with SOPHE (Society for Public Health Education), Eastern Michigan University, and Wayne Metro Community Action has marked a substantial step forward in the realm of public health education. This partnership has successfully launched a new system focused on increasing community engagement and enhancing health outcomes. By pooling resources and expertise, the initiative tackles significant public health issues, promoting a healthier environment for all community members. The continued backing from grant funders has been instrumental in making this vision a reality, paving the way for sustainable advancement and meaningful transformation.

We are making a conscious effort to make nutritious food accessible. This means making sure our canned foods are low in sodium, low in sugar, and low in saturated fats. The three key nutrients that impact chronic illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

Our nutrition policy and best practices ensure our clients have access to fruits, vegetables, grains, and proteins at each food distribution. Our food pantry has a dedicated nutrition education corner, ready and at your service to provide information about nutrition, healthy eating, and even recipe cards!

Our food pantry uses the evidence based SWAP (Serving Wellness at Food Pantries) system. It is a tool that teaches the link between nutrition and chronic diseases, and how to choose healthy foods by using a nutrition-ranking system using a stoplight as a symbol: choose green-ranked foods often, yellow-ranked foods sometimes, red-ranked foods sparingly. This allows sight recognition of healthy foods, overcoming language barriers, and reducing health disparities.

SWAP nutrition program

The SWAP program. It teaches the link between nutrition and chronic diseases, and how to choose healthy foods by using a nutrition-ranking system using a stoplight as a symbol. This allows sight recognition of healthy foods, overcoming language barriers, and reducing health disparities.

We hope our efforts in not only providing food but also ensuring our clients have access to nutrition education will help build a pathway to healthier lifestyles.

We extend our deepest gratitude to SOPHE, Eastern Michigan University (EMU), Wayne Metro Community Action Agency, Forgotten Harvest, Foodshare, and Gleaners' NPP program. Your partnership has been instrumental in transforming our Policy, Systems, and Environment (PSE) approach, allowing us to offer a healthier and more empowering pantry experience for our community.