'We're looking at it beyond food': New partnership in Indy fights food insecurities

INDIANAPOLIS — Food insecurities and inflation — it is two things countless neighbors in the circle city are working through daily. A new plan involving a food delivery service is looking to fight both.

The Faith Hope and Love Community is partnering with DoorDash’s Project DASH to bring free food and groceries to those in need in Indianapolis.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Thursday at the Fay Biccard Glick Neighborhood Center not long after several Doordash drivers came to pick up grocery boxes before delivering them to homebound seniors on the city's Northwest side.

“It feels amazing. I feel blessed because we’re helping bless other people," Doordash driver Antonio Quinn said.

The FHL Community is a non-profit based out of central Indiana whose mission is to help eradicate food insecurity, end hunger and leverage the power of food to build healthy communities.

FHL manages the first step of the partnership process, which is creating “Missional Neighborhood Hubs." These are the DoorDash pickup locations that supply the food for the program. From there, DoorDash distributes the grocery boxes to families in need.

The Fay Biccard Glick Neighborhood Center is the first. The nonprofit is looking to add more hubs across the city and eventually the state. By year's end, the goal is to serve a thousand grocery boxes a week.

Project DASH launched in 2018, first based out of San Francisco. Since then, they have expanded to several states, including New York, Ohio and Texas. The program opens access to families without the means of getting to food banks, which has shown success, especially within the senior community. It also gives families access with convenience and dignity.

Since their launch, there has been an estimated 35 million meals delivered through Project DASH and 2 million deliveries of meals, groceries, household goods and school supplies, according to DoorDash.

Nearly two dozen seniors got Doordash deliveries Thursday from the food pantry at the Fay Biccard Glick Neighborhood Center, but with inflation, this delivery partnership is expected to grow to upwards of an estimated 300 seniors and families in need.

"It's almost saying like we're finally looking at things from a different lens.it's not that we can't. it's what we can do," Fay Biccard Glick Neighborhood Center Executive Director, Patrice Duckett-Brown said.