Monthly pop-up food distribution in the former Kroger store helps provide for refugees
As the Mid-Ohio Food Collective transforms a former Kroger into a social services center, it partners with refugee groups to provide food to the community.
The menu of a new restaurant on the Near East Side includes more than just smoothie bowls, breakfast sandwiches, turkey burgers and veggie wraps.
The Near East Café in the new Healthy Community Center at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center at 1600 E. Long St. also aims to improve food access, nutrition and social connections for the people who eat there.
After a two-week soft opening, the cafe will celebrate its official opening on Friday and plans to host parties on the fourth Friday of every month.
The entire center, a $5.1 million project that transformed the former Martin Luther King Jr. branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, opened in May as a venue for health screenings, wellness classes, fitness workshops and other programs for Near East Side residents.
Near East Cafe is a project of Food Leads, a program that helps Black Columbus residents manage Type 2 diabetes through better nutrition, and Too Good Eats, a Columbus-based maker of craft beverages and popsicles.
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The partners have pledged to use at least half of the cafe’s profits to expand food access and improve nutrition in Central Ohio.
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