When Funmilayo Ayodele was pregnant with her first child, managing her health wasn’t easy.
Affording the fresh fruits, vegetables and other nutritious foods recommended by her healthcare team was often a challenge on a tight budget. She experienced gestational diabetes and later developed preeclampsia.
“It was really hard,” Funmilayo recalled.
But her second pregnancy was a much different experience. During an appointment with her doctor, she learned about a resource that could help.
“My (obstetrician) said, you have to come to the food pharmacy. They have a great program and they’re going to give you the food,” Funmilayo said.
Through the Capital Area Food Pharmacy at the University of Maryland Medical System’s UM Capital Largo campus, Funmilayo was able to access the foods her healthcare providers encouraged her to eat throughout her pregnancy. Patients who screen positive for food insecurity can enroll in the program to receive monthly groceries, including fresh produce, lean proteins and whole grains, to support their health.
“The fruits, the vegetables, the eggs are the things that the diabetic educator was really on me about,” she said. “Getting it from here really helped me.”
For Funmilayo, having access to those foods helped ease some of the pressure she was facing when it came to managing her health while preparing for a new baby.
“The first pregnancy, I had preeclampsia,” Funmilayo said. “But the second pregnancy, because I was getting fruits and vegetables, I was eating healthy.”
Today, Funmilayo is the mother of a two-year-old and a five-month-old. She hopes other families can benefit from the program just as she did.
“I wish the program will continue to help other pregnant women, because it was really helpful for me, and I’m grateful for that,” she said.
Funmilayo’s story is one example of how the Capital Area Food Bank’s food pharmacies help connect patients with the nutritious food they need to support their health, thanks to partnerships with healthcare facilities across the region. Patients at UM Capital are referred by their physician if they are experiencing high-risk pregnancies, gestational diabetes, hypertension, pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes or obesity. Since opening in 2024, the food pharmacy has served more than 200 families, with enrollment continuing to grow throughout 2026.
It’s the first Capital Area Food Pharmacy in Maryland, with four other locations operating in the region in partnership with Children’s National Hospital and Unity Health Care. These sites also are part of the Capital Area Food Bank’s broader Food Is Medicine work, which recognizes access to nutritious food as an important component of health and well-being.