This personal trainer and nonprofit founder believes in dignity at the dinner table

The back of Whitney Andrus’ black SUV looks like it could stock a small convenience store. Rows of plastic bins hold neatly arranged Ziploc bags, each stuffed with shelf-stable foods. The bags aren’t filled randomly. They contain curated combinations of canned and dried goods that are easily assembled to make a tasty family dinner. An enclosed recipe developed by Andrus shows how.

On this particular summer morning, Andrus is sliding some of the bags into the little free pantry that stands outside Faith Crossing United Methodist Church in Walker. It’s the first of several stops she’ll make to similar sites, also known as blessing boxes, before the day is through. Her nutrition education nonprofit, Whole Heart Health, has taken on filling these small cabinets as part of its mission to help struggling families put dinner on the table.

“It’s all about restoring dignity and helping those in need, or those who just need to get to the next paycheck,” says Andrus, a certified personal trainer and health and nutrition coach. “We have three rules: Honor your body. Love your neighbor. And feed them both.”

Andrus launched Whole Heart Health in March 2025. She and her volunteers have installed five Whole Heart Health little free pantries. They also deliver food to other existing donation boxes and a community fridge across East Baton Rouge, Livingston and Ascension parishes. Andrus plans to add more boxes, and she regularly fields calls from individuals eager to establish their own.

Since 2024, she has also provided free nutrition education workshops to regional schools, typically partnering with P.E. teachers. In 2025, she worked with 12,000 children and hopes to increase those numbers by sharing her curriculum.

The core of her message is that it’s not hard to create a balanced meal out of pantry staples, even those found in donation boxes or in dollar stores.

“People might look at a certain canned good and think, ‘What do I do with this?’” she says. “Our goal is to help them put a meal together.”

Andrus’ DIY meal kits, called Manna Bags, are tested on her family first, she says. They might include cans of white beans and vegetable broth and a recipe on how to make Creole white bean soup. She’s also developed recipes for shepherd’s pie, potato soup, chicken pot pie and a pasta bake, all using shelf-stable items. The meals are designed to be simple enough that kids can assemble them, she says.

Her smaller “Mind the Gap” bags might include ramen or cans of tuna, something quick that provides just enough nutrition to get someone through the day. She also stocks little free pantries with period products and with celebration kits in which she fills a lidded aluminum cake pan with cake mix, frosting and candles.

Andrus has also been working with some Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank pantry sites, including Faith Crossing UMC, to create recipes using abundant items such as broth and chickpeas. Andrus incorporates containers of chicken or vegetable broth into her soups, shepherd’s pie and chicken pot pie. With chickpeas, she suggests an easy recipe for hummus. She also advises puréeing and adding them to spaghetti sauce or taco meat; it helps stretch a recipe and adds fiber without changing the texture, she says.

“No one knows what to do with chickpeas,” she says. “But they’re so useful.”

Part of what motivates Andrus is encouraging anyone of any income level to have a positive relationship with food.

“Like any girl who grew up in the ’90s, I grew up with SnackWell’s Cookies and this belief that your size was your worth,” she says. “I can remember comparing my body to the girl next to me at 9 years old.”

She says she spent years repairing her relationship with food, finally seeing it as energy to keep her going and a medium to enjoy her friends and family. Her favorite meal of the week, she says, is when she grabs doughnuts with her daughter. “That’s when we have the best conversations,” she says.

For more information, visit Whole Heart Health.