Partnering to Make an Impact Beyond Hunger Awareness Month
September is Hunger Awareness Month, where as a nation we recognize that hunger is a problem and work together to make a difference. It has been exciting to see an influx of volunteer groups and support throughout the month of September – especially because it’s one of our busiest months for harvesting. But here at America’s Grow-a-Row we take a year-round approach to promoting food access and healthy eating!
Once our harvest season kicks into full swing, Team Walker helps us hold Free Farm Markets for the community every Saturday during the growing season. With help from volunteers from South Ridge Community Church, we deliver produce to a local park in Jersey City. Team Walker helps let community members know when the markets will take place and helps organize the distribution, and Jerry Walker, the founder of the organization, even personally delivers a portion of the fruits and vegetables to a local senior center for anyone who is unable to attend the market. Because of the information learned in our Healthy Eating lessons in the winter and spring, people eagerly take home and enjoy even the more unusual produce items, like spaghetti squash, because the families know that preparing them can be simple, fun, and delicious!
The partnership we have with our friends at Team Walker is a great example of our full-circle, year-round approach in action. We start our programs with Team Walker in January of each year, and during our “off season” our team heads out to Jersey City to teach the children in their after-school program our Healthy Eating lessons, featuring produce that grows in New Jersey. While we might not be growing produce at the farm, we certainly are growing positive relationships with healthy eating in the classroom!
Over the years, we’ve built strong relationships with the students and teachers at Team Walker. This year, we were able to engage more families by having America’s Grow-a-Row team members demonstrate and run a lesson with one group one day and then having the Team Walker staff teach the same lesson with a different group of youth the following day, essentially doubling the impact. We’re also excited to be working with the leaders who are from Jersey City to share ideas about healthy habits with their own community members. After every lesson, the children go home with bags full of the ingredients they’ll need to make the recipe with their families and introduce the same concepts learned in the classroom into the home.
Our partnership with Team Walker doesn’t stop there though. During the harvest season we always hold a Grow-a-Row Kids Farm Day for the youth and a community day for the families from Team Walker at our farm so they can come out and harvest produce for their community and for other communities in need as well. Our friends at Team Walker are engaged in the full circle of our programs – from learning about to harvesting to distributing to cooking the produce. Everyone involved has an amazing sense of ownership, dignity, and agency. We are so proud of and grateful for our partnership with Team Walker. Together we’re empowering families take control of their health during Hunger Awareness Month and all year round!
