Ottawa’s food coordinator will return to serving the community

OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. – The Ottawa County Health Department has secured funding to relaunch its Ottawa Food program, which was left in limbo last year due to budget cuts.

The province’s health officer said they want to bring back the program’s former coordinator to lead the restart efforts.

“I am very pleased that we can support our community,” said Ottawa County Health Director Adeline Hambley.

Ottawa Food provides critical support to local families and individuals facing food insecurity.

“They’ve been working on coordination, bridging that gap and building connections that may not have been there before,” Hambley said.

Ottawa County’s fiscal year 2025 budget went into effect on October 1.

“I am pleased to say that the board has approved the restoration of funding to Ottawa Food for our fiscal year ’25 budget,” Hambley added.

Hambley wants to rehire Ottawa Food coordinator Sierra Schuetz.

Schuetz and previous coordinators have worked to give people access to healthy food.

“So increasing access to fresh fruits and vegetables grown here in the province, while also, you know, helping our farmers give back to the community,” she explained.

Ottawa Food’s Advisory Board is made up of 45 local non-profits and organizations.

Last year was the first time in more than ten years that they were without a coordinator at the provincial level.

“I’m excited that we might be more efficient and maybe even have new avenues for gathering food in the community and distributing it in the community so that no one falls through the cracks,” Hambley said.

Ottawa Food’s 2023 annual report shows that a program the province could no longer support helped 350 seniors. Senior Project Fresh, which provided $25 vouchers to participants, enabled local seniors to purchase nearly $6,000 worth of fresh produce at area farmers markets, the report said.

“(Schuetz is) very passionate about this work and very committed to serving the community, so I think she is excited to step back into the role of serving the community in this way,” Hambley said.

The county board has approved the general fund contribution to public health. That didn’t happen without a bit of back and forth.

Data shows that earlier this year, a majority of commissioners voted to cut $2 million from Public Health’s rainy day balance. Hambley says the money will now be used to fund her department.

“I think our total increase over last year hovered around $800,000 and the majority of that was increased costs due to payroll and administrative overhead in the county,” Hambley said.

According to the health director, the position will cost the county more than $100,000. She added that this would cover salaries, benefits and administrative costs.

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