ACCESS hopes that a new mobile food pantry at a Providence clinic near the Village at Medford Center will reach new people who struggle with food insecurity.

After months of planning, the health care provider and Jackson County’s community action agency have joined forces to host the new pantry held every first, third and fifth Tuesday of the month at the Providence Pediatrics parking lot, 840 Royal Ave.

Providence reached out to ACCESS, which serves as the regional food bank, late last year after the pediatrics clinic found through its Social Determinants of Health screenings that 21% of the clinic’s patients faced at least one barrier, such as food insecurity, housing challenges, transportation issues or an inability to pay utility bills, according to ACCESS Food Programs Manager Marcee Champion and a release from the health care provider.

ACCESS has other partnerships with Rogue Community Health and La Clinica, but Champion said that it was most welcome when Providence reached out to the food bank at the end of the year.

“I was super-excited to have another health care provider reach out … obviously because of the ties between nutrition and health,” Champion said.

The new mobile food pantry is similar to ones it places at 11 other locations across the Rogue Valley, including at 1 p.m. Fridays at the La Clinica parking lot in Phoenix.

“It’s on site to be easily accessible to people who are visiting the clinic,” Champion said.

Among the Providence Pediatrics patients found to have barriers in anonymous screenings, roughly 80% were screened as having food insecurity, according to the health care provider.

One of the challenges after Providence reached out to ACCESS was logistics. Mobile food pantries operate six days a week, including in remote rural areas such as Prospect, Butte Falls and Wimer. Champion said there were 11,032 visits to mobile food pantries in calendar year 2023.

“Our mobile pantry is very active,” she said.

ACCESS also needed to work with Providence to find a place where the pantry would be visible without being in the way.

“They have a really nice-sized parking lot, but they have to cone that off for us,” Champion said of the work on the healthcare provider’s end.

To better fit, ACCESS is using its “Mini Mobile Food Pantry,” a converted Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van that uses solar panels to power refrigerators and freezers on site. It can provide food assistance to roughly 30 people at a time.

Champion said the response was particularly strong at Providence Pediatric’s Feb. 20 mobile pantry (the first took place Feb. 6). Residents of a nearby senior center who don’t drive brought over a wagon.

“Anytime we can put up a pantry where people have less transportation barriers, that’s beautiful,” Champion said.

For information on food pantry locations and eligibility requirements for food assistance, see accesshelps.org/food-pantries.