Food Outreach was founded by a group of caring individuals cooking meals for seven of their friends living with HIV/AIDS.

The agency opened a satellite grocery center offering a variety of staple items to a client list that had grown well into the hundreds.

The agency hired its first full-time dietitian.

Food Outreach consolidated its Medically Tailored Meals and Grocery Program into one 10,000 square foot facility in midtown St. Louis – complete with an industrial quality kitchen and grocery center – providing a convenient one-stop service center.

Food Outreach’s Client Services team launches a Meal Home Delivery Program to provide healthy meals to clients too sick to visit us.

Following a pilot program with The Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, Food Outreach expanded its mission to provide services to individuals diagnosed with cancer.

Food Outreach began to purchase only food that is either trans fat free or has naturally occurring trans fats.

Food Outreach was presented with an award for “Health Advocate of the Year” by the City of St. Louis Community Development Administration.

In response to COVID-19, Food Outreach closes its grocery center to clients in March and pivots to a contact-free curbside and home delivery model. The agency is designated as an “Essential Service Provider” by the City of St. Louis Department of Health. Food Outreach never suspends its services nor furloughs any staff members.

Food Outreach is later awarded the “Innovative Nonprofit of the Year Award” at the national “Raise” fundraising conference due to the agency’s efforts in continuing to meet the unique nutritonal needs of immunocompromised clients during the pandemic.

Food Outreach launched a pilot program with the VA Hospital System of St. Louis to support veterans living with uncontrolled Type II Diabetes. The program’s goal is to learn how Food Outreahc’s nutrition and education can improve health outcomes for this vulnerable population.

The agency was also selected as a “Harkin on Wellness Designee” by the Harkin Institute at Drake University. The Harkin Institute believes that innovative and progressive wellness and nutrition initiatives that utilize a Food Is Medicine approach (e.g., systems approach to food and nutrition issues) have a larger impact on the complex health challenges we face today. Furthermore, they believe effective policy system level, and environmental change is necessary to accelerate the adoption, effectiveness, and sustainability of food and nutrition programs.

Food Outreach’s Meal Home Delivery Program was expanded to over 350 clients compared to 40 clients prior to the pandemic.

In 2023, Food Outreach successfully launched a pilot program in partnership with SSM and Mercy Health to demonstrate how our nutrition services support positive clinical health and quality of life outcomes in patients diagnosed with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes (HbA1C>8.0). Food Outreach enrolled 150 new clients and provided medically tailored meals, groceries and fresh produce, and dietetic services for 12 months with positive results. In 2024, Food Outreach secured a $50,000 grant from the Washington University Center for Diabetes Translation Research to conduct a formal evaluation of the pilot. The evaluation is being led by researcher and WashU Brown School Assistant Professor Dan Ferris and will assess the impact and implementation of our meal program using patient health data, surveys, and participant interviews. The study aims to fill gaps in policy, cost-effectiveness, and implementation science related to community-based, healthcare-partnered nutrition programs. Preliminary results suggest promising clinical improvements among participants, with full evaluation results expected to be published in late 2025.