Hannaford has awarded Cornell University a $225,000 grant to study the causes of childhood obesity and promote programs to reduce obesity-related health risks. The funding supports collaboration with childhood obesity experts to determine community needs and create programs to address those needs. 

Nearly 20% of children aged 2-19 are considered obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The project is led by Angela Odoms-Young, the Nancy Schlegel Meinig Associate Professor of Maternal and Child Nutrition at Cornell Human Ecology (CHE) and Alisha Gaines from the Food and Nutrition Education in Communities Program (FNEC), in partnership with Mingla Charoenmuang from New York State 4-H, the youth development program of Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE). They will work with CCE’s Healthy Living for Youth and Families Program Work Team to bridge research with community outreach, focusing on child and family health programs designed to combat childhood obesity. Odoms-Young leads CCE’s programming on human nutrition, food safety and security, and obesity prevention. 

The funding comes from Hannaford’s Eat Well, Be Well – A Path to Better Health initiative, which launched in 2022 to improve access to healthy food for children across New York and New England. 

“With guidance from our coalition of youth development and nutrition and public health experts, these funds will help us increase statewide capacity for multi-level health promotion and obesity prevention strategies for children and families,” said Odoms-Young, director of the Food and Nutrition Education in Communities Program (FNEC) and New York State Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP).

In addition to the grant, the supermarket chain is providing $12,000 in Hannaford gift cards to CHE and CCE, to purchase healthy snacks for children.