MILWAUKEE — More people than ever are relying on food pantries amid COVID-19 furloughs and layoffs.

To help with that, Kohl’s Healthy Families is ensuring Milwaukee‘s underserved communities have access to health and wellness through grant funding. Interactive healthy cooking workshops are offered weekly through the Muslim Community and Health Center, or MCHC. Thanks to the recent grant from Kohl’s Healthy Families, more than 350 minorities, immigrants and refugees in and around Milwaukee will now know where and how to access healthy foods.

Seventy-year-old Mohammed Bassar moved to America from the Middle East four years ago. Now, closer to family and Milwaukee, Bassar says he attends the cooking demonstrations to encourage his six grandchildren.

“Your best friend in life is your health,” said Bassar. If you lose your health you lose everything.”

The funding for programs like this one at MCHC is vital in uncertain times.

“We know these individuals are coming out of the center really do need help and really do need support in any way possible,” said Fazia Qureshi, MCHC Program Lead.

The Muslim Community and Health Center is one of six programs in Milwaukee’s inner city that’s receiving funding from Kohl’s Healthy Families. Cooking demonstrations are offered in seven different languages and open to the public.

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