This week’s podcast is a Food Justice is Social Justice episode featuring the Hugh Lane Wellness Foundation. The goal of this initiative is to create awareness about social inequality while educating food bank supporters in Southwestern Pennsylvania of numerous organizations in the region that are focused on ending racism and creating equality.

The Hugh Lane Wellness Foundation, founded in 2017 with a mission to improve the health of the LGBTQ+ and HIV communities in Western Pennsylvania, is providing support in the form of youth and family, wellness, and training services.

“We have services for youth and families. We provide legal services. We launched a food pantry and resource program during the pandemic. We provide support groups for LGBTQ members of all ages,” said Sarah Rosso, the foundation’s executive director.

Foundation program director Coley Alston said members of the community face roadblocks that lead to economic hardships for some.

“Sometimes it’s a cosigner on a lease. If you’ve been rejected from your family or you don’t have family you can rely on for financial support, then you’re already going to be out of luck. I would also say gender markers and names on legal documentation (are roadblocks),” Alston said.

Those roadblocks have real-life consequences for LGBTQ+ people, Alston said.

According to the Williams Institute, food insecurity among LGBTQ+ adults in 2018 was more than double the national food insecurity rate.

This is something Hugh Lane sees first hand, which is why the foundation started a food pantry called Hugh’s Kitchen that offers contactless grocery delivery.

The foundation also focuses on supporting youths, offering an AFFIRM program to help teens manage stress.

You can learn more about the Hugh Lane Wellness Foundation here.

Listen: Pittsburgh food bank reports LGBTQ+ community sees higher food insecurity rates

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