Now in its fourth year, the Munson Healthcare Voices for Community Health program invited community members to share artwork inspired by Food Access, highlighting the vital role nutritious food plays in health and wellbeing. This year’s program introduced a new opportunity: winning artists were able to direct a $1,000 Munson Healthcare donation to a local food pantry of their choice.
“As a nonprofit healthcare system, Munson Healthcare is committed to stewarding our resources in ways that align with the priorities identified through our Community Health Needs Assessment, including food access,” said Christi Nowak, System Director of Community Health and Engagement at Munson Healthcare. “By pairing art with direct support for local food pantries, we’re not only uplifting community voices, but also investing in practical solutions that help ensure our neighbors have consistent access to nutritious food.”
Munson Healthcare is proud to announce the 2026 Voices for Food Access winners:
Kids Category
Eloise Kaiser | Artwork: A Step Up
Selected Pantry: ACTS: Acme Christian Thrift Store and Food Pantry, Williamsburg
Adult Category
Emily Buchanan | Artwork: Community Sufficiency
Selected Pantry: Fresh Wind Food Pantry, Thompsonville
Laurel Heuser | Artwork: We Are What We Eat
Selected Pantry: Women’s Resource Center of Traverse City
Emily Buchanan, a local artist and small family farmer, is part of the broader Fresh Wind Christian Community, which operates the Fresh Wind Food Pantry. Her piece, Community Sufficiency, was inspired by a beloved community member, Dan, who supported the pantry and passed away the year prior.
“I had already been thinking about painting something in his honor,” Buchanan shared. “When I saw the contest — and the opportunity to support our local pantry — it just felt right. Do it for Dan.”
Kids category winner Eloise Kaiser is a first-time Voices participant who enjoys creating many forms of art and often reuses and recycles materials in her work. For her Food Access piece, Eloise focused on making the artwork colorful and easy to interpret, filling it with as many fruits and vegetables as she could imagine. Eloise selected ACTS Food Pantry because it is close to home, and she regularly sees the impact the organization has on her community. She and her mother also enjoy shopping at the ACTS Thrift Store.
Third-time Voices participant and adult winner Laurel Heuser selected the Women’s Resource Center of Traverse City as her donation recipient, noting that she frequently purchases textiles from the WRC store for use in other art projects. She values the opportunity to reuse and reinvent materials rather than discard them. Her artwork was inspired by dreaming of time spent in her garden and her love of growing her own food.
Through the Voices program and other community initiatives, Munson Healthcare continues to invest in solutions that address food insecurity across northern Michigan. Over the past year, the organization has gifted more than $20,000 to food pantries across its service area, in addition to a $120,000 investment in Goodwill’s Food Rescue Program, supporting efforts to reduce food waste and increase access to nutritious food for those in need.
To learn more about Voices and to see the virtual art gallery, visit www.voicesforcommunityhealth.org.
Visit www.munsonhealthcare.org/communitycommitment to learn about Munson’s commitment to our communities.