Education

For those who struggle to afford enough nutritious food, inexpensive and unhealthy foods are sometimes the only option. Without proper nutrition, risk of chronic diseases is higher and it can be difficult to focus and to succeed in school and at work.

Our nutrition team oversees the nutritional value of all the food we distribute. Their hard work ensures that over 95% of the food we distribute meets the highest nutrition standards as defined by the Supporting Wellness at Pantries (SWAP) system. And, 33% of the food we distribute is fresh produce.

GBFB’s Registered Dietitians provide nutrition education throughout the communities we serve through educational programs and resources such as Click ‘N Cook and assistance with obtaining SNAP benefits. Our goal is to have lasting impact on the health of the children, families and seniors we serve and to be a leader in providing sustained access to nutritious foods.

Our goal is to be a leader in providing nutritious food to sustain healthful eating and to create healthy communities. We are proud to be a founding partner of Hunger to Health Collaboratory, which works to build alliances with partners who believe that health begins with reliable access to nutritious food.

Meet our Dietitians

Rachel Burgun, MPH, RDN, LDN, Assistant Director of Nutrition Programs, joined The Greater Boston Food Bank in April 2017. Her primary responsibility is to direct the development and execution of SNAP outreach and nutrition programming strategies. She oversees the food bank’s external facing nutrition programming including the Healthy Pantry Program, the recipe website Click ‘N Cook, and the food bank’s Nutrition Policy. She leads SNAP and nutrition education-related research collaborations. Rachel has a background in nutrition, public health, and program evaluation. She received her Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor and her Bachelor of Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Laura Ortiz, MS, RD, LDN, Manager of Nutrition, joined The Greater Boston Food Bank in November 2022. Her primary responsibilities are to develop and coordinate the Healthy Pantry Program, a video-based nutrition education program designed to educate agency staff; to manage the food bank’s online recipe website, Click ‘N Cook; to teach food safety courses to member agencies; and to precept dietetic interns. Ms. Ortiz has a background in nutrition and is interested in food insecurity and functional nutrition. She previously worked as a nutritionist for the Women, Infants, and Children program. She received her Master of Science from Framingham State University and her Bachelor of Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

More Nutrition Resources

• The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
• The Center for Science in the Public Interest
• Nutrition.gov
• The American Diabetes Association
• ADA’s 60-Second Type 2 Diabetes Risk Test
• The American Heart Association
• The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders

Dietetic Internships: The Greater Boston Food Bank’s Registered Dietitians accept dietetic interns from traditional
and distance learning programs for Community or Elective rotations. Please click here for more information.

Searching for more information? Contact our Nutrition Team at nutrition@gbfb.org