Salt Lake City, Utah — Three MountainStar Healthcare hospitals collected over 2,600 pounds of food donations in the Healthy Food for Healthier Tomorrows food drive organized by HCA Healthcare, the Utah network announced. One hospital’s creative food sculpture design earned a $10,000 grant from the HCA Healthcare Foundation to the Jordan Education Foundation’s food bank.
Participating hospitals created a food sculpture with their donated items, and the winning sculpture from each of HCA Healthcare’s 15 divisions received a $10,000 gift to share with the local food bank of their choice. The 61-bed facility in Draper created a sculpture of the hospital and the Herriman Emergency Center with the Wasatch Front mountains in the background, resulting in a grant to Jordan Education Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting Utah’s children.
“Since the opening of the Herriman Emergency Center just over a year ago, it has become our pleasure to learn more about the Jordan Education Foundation and all that it does to serve students and families in the Salt Lake Valley,” said Brian Lines, chief executive officer at Lone Peak Hospital. “We were moved to learn about the great refugee needs and general food insecurity throughout the district, and are thrilled to win this prize to support the incredible work the foundation is doing in regards to food and nutrition support.”
MountainStar Healthcare is a Utah health network with more than 80 sites of care from Logan to Payson, and is part of HCA Healthcare, one of the nation’s leading healthcare providers. HCA Healthcare invited its hospitals in 20 states to participate in the Healthy Food for Healthier Tomorrows Food Drive, and Lone Peak Hospital was joined by St. Mark’s Hospital and Lakeview Hospital in collecting more than 2,600 pounds.
“We trust that this gift will be put to good use improving the health of the community that we also strive to improve through our services at our Draper and Herriman locations,” Lines added.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 44 million Americans are facing hunger, including 1 in 5 children. In the Beehive State, an estimated 9.5% of Utahns experience food insecurity.
Officials from Lone Peak Hospital notified the Jordan Education Foundation of the donation in December and presented a ceremonial check to the foundation in early January.