23ZIP, Inc. Success With 1-Million Plant-Based Meals

When Alexia Parks won the first of six contracts to prepare and deliver 1-million meals to 350 sheltered homeless in Riverside County, CA, Parks knew that her bid was higher than that of a competing global food catering company. What the global company did not know was that during the COVID-19 pandemic, fresh, local produce and products from small farmers would become more important than the lowest cost meal.

Award-winning social-impact entrepreneur, Alexia Parks, is founder and president of 23ZIP, Inc. First Food Responders 23ZIP, Inc. First Food Responders, a diversified network of trained home cooks and licensed chefs able to respond on demand to a local food "emergency." They learn how to safely prepare and deliver meals using what Alexia Parks calls "miracle foods" 23Ingredients that have been proven successful over 50-years by Joel Rauchwerger PhD, former faculty at Baylor College of Medicine and co-author of First Food Responders: People Are Hungry Feed Them Now! Here's How! According to the Mayo Clinic, high-fiber foods such as those recommended in 23Ingredients can help prevent diseases such as obesity, diabetes, dementia, and colorectal cancer.

23ZIP's use of plant-based foods says Riverside County leader Gayle Hoxter brings multiple nutritional and health benefits to Project RoomKey. It offers America its first large-scale demonstration of how specific foods can trigger the release of positive chemicals in the GUT microbiome that - measurably from the observation of the drivers who delivered the meals - begin to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression.

The ability of local cooks to help people eat better food brings many economic benefits to small farmers and the local economy. Training a culturally diverse network of licensed cooks also helps strengthen a community's food resilience while supporting environmental sustainability.

23ZIP Catalog of Courses 2023 in Applied Community Food Security offer a Certificate of Completion and optional university level credit from participating colleges and universities including Colorado State University Continuing Education and its public health and nursing network: University of Northern Colorado and Anschutz Medical Campus University of Colorado Denver.

All programs are developed by 23ZIP in partnership with its tax-exempt non-profit partner, 10TRAITS.org. Scholarships available for individuals who live in marginalized communities.