ACSGW Launches Healthy Child 1000

Story by V. Michelle Bernard 

Adventist Community Services of Greater Washington (ACSGW), with the help of Adventist HealthCare, has started Healthy Child 1000, a program to assist mothers with needs, from conception to the time the baby turns two.  

Prior to the new program, ACSGW already provided food and diapers and a monthly food basket to families. Participating families can now receive fresh produce, nutritious shelf-stable foods and baked goods every other week, as well as feminine hygiene items and 100 diapers each month. At weaning, baby/toddler food will be added. 

ACCGW leaders shared the program is planned to help the child roughly through conception to their second birthday. “This is a child’s most formative period. Adequate nutrition in this period is vital to future physical and mental capacities,” they said. “A doubling of food, support to enroll in WIC and/or SNAP, and informational sessions related in infant and toddler health do produce better outcomes.” 

Find out more about the program and ACSGW here.