Expanding Food Access for Seniors and People Managing Chronic Health Conditions

Food banks do extraordinary work, connecting millions of people with the nutritious food they need to thrive. And by combining food banks’ deep community knowledge and relationships with the power of delivery, we can help even more neighbors access the exact foods that meet their unique needs. 

Today, we're proud to expand our work with Feeding America in two new ways, each built around neighbors who face barriers to accessing food and whose needs can be better supported through flexible, community-centered approaches.

For a neighbor managing diabetes or heart disease, having access to foods that support their individual health needs can be life changing. For an older adult on a fixed income who can no longer drive or faces other mobility issues, even the best-stocked food bank can’t serve as a helpful resource if getting there isn't an option. 

Addressing these gaps takes collaboration across systems, combining food banks’ local knowledge and community relationships with resources and delivery tools that can expand how neighbors access food. That’s exactly why we're investing in two distinct programs with the Feeding America network:

1. We're launching a new Senior Home Delivery program to reach older people in America who face barriers getting to a pantry, starting in four cities: Minneapolis, Monterey, Seattle, and New York City.

2. We're expanding our Food & Health food bank program that supports people managing diet-related health conditions like diabetes and heart disease in New York City, New Jersey, Boston, and Minnesota, with new programs launching in Chicago and Oakland.

3. Both programs run through the Feeding America network, enabled by Instacart technology. Each partner food bank decides how to put the tools to work based on their community's need, whether that means ordering groceries for direct delivery to a neighbor's home or pantry, providing neighbors with Instacart Health Fresh Funds (category-specific grocery stipends) or a gift card to shop for themselves on Instacart, with eligible items and delivery covered.

Program 1: Closing the Senior Access Gap

Today, an estimated 7.7 million seniors aged 60 and older experience food insecurity, and that number is projected to exceed 9 million by 2050. In 2019, only 48% of eligible seniors were enrolled in SNAP, and when food banks ask what gets in the way, the top reason seniors cite: they simply can't get to the store. And for an older adult on a fixed income who can no longer drive or who has limited mobility, getting to a food pantry can be a similarly significant barrier. 

That's precisely the gap the new Instacart & Feeding America Senior Home Delivery program is built to close.

At launch, we're supporting four Feeding America partner food banks whose own survey data shows real, unmet demand for delivery-based senior programming: Second Harvest Heartland (Minnesota), Food Bank for Monterey County (California), Food Lifeline (Seattle), and FeedMore (New York). 

Instacart also provides the Senior & Specialized Support Line, a dedicated phone line where human specialists help older adults, and anyone who needs extra assistance, set up an account, build a cart, place an order, and get support along the way. This additional support offers another way we build on food banks’ relationships with older adults and make grocery access more flexible, meeting older adults where they are.

By pairing these tools with food banks’ local expertise, the program can offer more options for older adults while building on the community-based support already in place.

Program 2: Food & Health

Alongside our work to expand food access for older adults, Instacart and Feeding America are building on our longstanding collaboration to support food banks addressing a different dimension of food insecurity: the connection between nutrition and health. 

For people living with chronic condition like diabetes, heart disease, or cancer, access to nutritious foods that meet their needs can be an important part of managing their health. Yet cost, reliable access to nutritious foods and other barriers can make that access difficult to sustain. And for food banks, available inventory may not always align with the specific needs of a neighbor managing a health condition. Additional resources can give food banks more flexibility to offer options like low-sodium proteins or fresh produce.

The Instacart-Feeding America partnership brings this to life in ways that reflect each community’s needs. The year-one results confirmed that when cost and logistics barriers are removed, people can access the food they need more easily. Across our four Year 1 food bank partners, the program supported more than 91,000 neighbors over nine months. 

• In New Jersey, 10 partner agencies used Instacart funding to stock shelves with high-demand proteins, fresh produce, and staples — the very items neighbors and pantries struggle to afford as costs climb.

• In Brooklyn, Food Bank for New York City served families every month through six community pantries.

• In Boston, Greater Boston Food Bank piloted a Nutrition Policy Toolkit to help partners build healthier food environments across Eastern Massachusetts.

• In Minnesota, Second Harvest Heartland gave FOODRx participants Instacart gift cards to supplement medically tailored deliveries, giving people more flexibility to access foods that can benefit their health.

"The FOODRx program, which provided shelf-stable food to our members who were pregnant or experiencing chronic conditions, was invaluable — many struggled to eat healthy foods that supported their needs due to lack of access, transportation, mobility, or knowledge around preparing meals," said a representative from Second Harvest Heartland.

For Year 2, we're carrying that work forward with a mix of new and existing partners: Food Bank for New York City, Community FoodBank of New Jersey, Greater Chicago Food Depository, and Alameda County Community Food Bank. 

As with the senior program, each food bank chooses how to put the funding to work, from purchasing and delivering groceries through Instacart for Business (our platform for organizations to purchase and deliver groceries at scale) to offering Fresh Funds grocery stipends and gift cards directly to participants. 

A Commitment to Access & Nutrition

Our work with Feeding America dates nearly a decade, and together we have delivered more than 14 million meals to food-insecure individuals across the United States. Today, we’re especially proud to support online food drives through our Community Carts tool with more than 300 Feeding America partner food banks. 

And since launching Instacart Health in 2022, that partnership has deepened into a broader commitment to health and nutrition — work we're also advancing alongside health systems, universities, and nonprofits across the country. 

That's what these two programs continue to represent: pairing our technology, our reach, and our delivery infrastructure with organizations that have exceptional community trust and local expertise. Working together, we can help ensure everyone has exactly the right food they need to thrive.