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Inspiring Healing through Local Food: Shodair Receives $15.5K Farm Grant
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner – three meals a day, three designated opportunities to eat. And yet, for most of us, access to quality food is something we take for granted. We skip breakfast because we’re in a rush. We nibble on lunch at our desks because life is too busy. We eat dinner on the couch in the luxury of our homes. But for kids at Shodair, children who have faced various challenges (emotional, mental, and all too often, physical), food isn’t just a meal – it’s a means of healing. Food is comfort. It’s familiarity, nutrition, and ultimately growth. And at Shodair, the hub for this healing takes place in the Hope Café.
Walk into Shodair on any given day and it’s not a stuffy buffet you’ll be met with, but an open and airy space meant for gathering. And that’s intentional. Opening in 2023 alongside our new hospital facility, the Hope Café serves as both the primary food service for our patients and a public café for the Helena community. As such, its atmosphere is welcoming, it’s meals made from scratch, and thanks to a recent $15.5K farm grant, much of our food and produce is also home-grown right here in Montana!
“What’s important for others to know is that real food lives here,” states French Miller, Shodair’s Food Services Director. “I’ve worked in the services industry for a while and the food quality at Shodair is top tier. In a setting like this, food ties into everything – the care patients receive, the medicine they take, the way their brain develops. Having the right food resources helps patients both grow and offers a valuable opportunity for education.”
While providing care in a rural state like Montana can present challenges, it also comes with many unique opportunities. like having access to high-quality, home-grown food right in our own backyard – a resource Shodair has excitedly tapped into since receiving the 2023 Montana Department of Agriculture Local Farm to School Grant. Designed to promote local food sourcing and education in schools, the awarded funds enable Shodair to partner with a nearby co-op, receiving locally grown crops and meat for the lifetime of the grant.
“What’s unique about the grant is the variety of foods that it’s allowed us to introduce to patients,” states Miller. “If we have chickpeas, we create a meal with chickpeas. Or if we have the opportunity to get bison, we incorporate that into our menu. We do all of this while working alongside our dietician to provide important education to the kids about the foods they’re eating and where they come from.”
What meals do the kids love the most? “Any dessert, fried food, or cheeseburger,” shares Miller. But more important are the values they’re learning with each and every regular meal. In addition to group consults, Shodair’s dietician works with patients individually to help overcome past food experiences and replace them with healthy eating habits. These include core nutrition values, expectations around mealtimes, and even favorite recipes they can carry with them into their home life. It’s here, with the help of the farm grant, that patients can not only eat real food but be a part of it in an impactful and meaningful way.
Whether it’s at a children’s hospital in Helena, MT, your home, or a local bistro, food has a powerful way of breaking down barriers and bringing people together. And it’s with that in mind that our food services team works year-round to provide meals that don’t just heal in the moment but heal for a lifetime.
Shodair Children’s Hospital is creating a healthy and hopeful Montana through specialized psychiatric care for children and adolescents. To be a part of our mission, we invite you to visit us at the Hope Café – open to the public Monday-Friday 7AM-10:30AM and 11AM–2PM. Our menu rotates weekly and offers fresh food options, available for dining and to-go.
