The Grandview Foundation is awarding a $260,000 grant to the Gem City Market for the construction of a teaching kitchen for resident physicians and community members.
Representatives from the Gem City Market and the Hall Hunger Initiative joined at Grandview Medical Center July for a public briefing to discuss how the teaching kitchen will benefit the market and the surrounding community.
Josie Elrod, DO, found Grandview’s Culinary Medicine Program that she says will will equip residents and students with the knowledge needed to promote health and wellness for the Dayton community.
“The more the students know, the more comfortable they are making recommendations. In the clinic, rather than just saying ‘eat better’ and ‘exercise more’ or giving a handout, they can relate and give specific examples on how to do so,” Elrod says.
The teaching kitchen at Gem City Market will help the community with the basic culinary skills needed to make healthy food more flavorful without adding fat, sugar, and salt.
“Access to healthy food is key to improving the lives of our patients, but food has to taste good if we’re going to eat it,” Elrod says.
Ambassador Tony Hall, founder of the Hall Hunger Initiative and chair of the Gem City Market capital campaign, notes that hunger is not just a lack of access to food, but to healthy food. Hall acknowledged the health disparities in Montgomery County that the teaching kitchen will help combat.
“When we see high rates of death due to heart disease, obesity, and diabetes, we know that an unhealthy diet is really at the center of the problem,” Hall said. “This partnership—the Grandview Foundation, Gem City Market, and neighbors—is really a perfect example of how to create a healthier Dayton.”
Kettering Health Network has been an avid supporter of the Gem City Market. The network has invested nearly $400,000 in the Gem City Market through donations to the market’s capital campaign and a network employee membership drive and a matching program, allowing employees to purchase a $100 lifetime Gem City Market membership for only $50. Nearly 500 employees have participated in the match program.
