Astoria resident launches meal kit delivery
service to help feed food insecure families
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.8 COM | NOV. 27-DEC. 3, 2020
of schools across the
city.
“Massive food insecurity
was an immediate
concern and I was
determined to ensure
our students remained
healthy and had access
to nutritious ingredients
to cook healthy
meals at home,” Calder
said.
That’s when Calder
started packing and
delivering meal kits to
students and their families.
Each meal kit includes
a recipe card and
ingredients to make the
meals they enjoyed preparing
and eating in
their cooking classes,
Calder said.
The Nourish Box
Meal Kits come in two
sizes: Little Spoon and
Big Spoon.
The Little Spoon
Meal Kits provides two
to three meals for a family.
It contains non-perishable
foods that can
be quickly packed up
and distributed to communities
in need.
The Big Spoon Meal
Kit is delivered monthly
to a family impacted
by hunger. It contains
enough fresh and nonperishable
ingredients
to make six to 10 meals.
“We quickly received
positive feedback and
attention to our meal
kit deliveries, resulting
in an influx of donations
for our work,”
Calder said. “Since our
meal kits were so well
received, and it was
clear we could not continue
after school programming
in the near
future, I decided to officially
shift our mission,
branding and name –
and Nourish Box was
born.”
Calder has always
been passionate about
working to help alleviate
health inequities in
underserved communities
in New York City.
Prior to launching
the Nourish Box, Calder
was already organizing
and implementing
wellness programs for
young people at a homeless
shelter in Harlem.
“I really enjoyed
this type of work, while
also realizing the need
to provide fitness and
nutrition programs for
youth who lack access
to wellness resources,”
said Calder, whose education
and background
is in public health. “So,
I decided to expand this
type of work and provide
classes at schools
in neighborhoods with
higher health disparities.”
To support his work,
Calder needed to hire
teachers and also fundraise
to support the
programs. In 2016, he
established the nonprofit
organization, the
Health League Action.
During those four
years, the Health
League Action provided
thousands of classes for
over 700 students.
In their healthy cooking
classes, children
learned how to make
kale and sweet potato
salad, vegetarian chili,
sweet corn salad wraps
and Vietnamese summer
rolls.
“Our goal was to
ignite a passion for
healthy cooking and
eating,” Calder said.
The after school
programs were mainly
done at schools in East
Harlem, and the team
eventually expanded
its programs to Queens
and Brooklyn.
Though they’re currently
unable to offer
in-person classes due to
COVID-19, Calder said
Nourish Box hopes to
implement healthy cooking
classes at schools
and community centers
using their meal kits.
“We will focus on
serving Queens residents
with our classes
but hope to expand with
further support and resources,”
Calder said. “I
feel great about Nourish
Box’s future. Ultimately,
our goal is to take a
novel approach to ending
hunger.”
Reach reporter Carlotta
Mohamed by email
at cmohamed@
schnepsmedia.com or by
phone at (718) 260–4526.
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
An Astoria resident
is helping to feed foodinsecure
families and
communities in New
York City amid the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic.
Daniel Calder is the
executive director of
the Nourish Box, whose
mission is to fight the
destructive effects of
hunger by delivering
boxed meal kits to food
insecure families and
communities.
The Nourish Box
mainly operates
throughout Queens,
either delivering meal
kits directly to families,
distributions at
food banks, or placing
meal kits in community
fridges.
“Since our official
launch, we have delivered
nearly 400 meal
kits to food-insecure
families throughout
Queens, through partnerships
with local food
banks, mutual aid organizations,
and Assemblywoman
Alicia Hyndman
and Zohran Kwame
Mamdani,” Calder said.
Just as Calder was
about to make plans to
expand their programming,
COVID-19 hit, resulting
in the shutdown
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