How do you get your fruits and vegetables? | Eastern North Carolina Now

For Immediate Release:

    Assessment and community meetings seek to answer questions about healthy food access in Beaufort County.

    Washington, NC     It can be easy to assume that fresh and healthy food options are abundant in communities like Beaufort County that have fertile soil and a history rich in farming. But that is not always the case, especially with more and more farm land being converted to commodity crops and out of vegetable and fruit production. Accessing local, fresh and healthy food can be difficult for many residents, especially those with limited transportation options and who live far from local grocery stores.

    "Many of the folks that we work with struggle to get enough fresh, healthy food into their diets, " says Sally Love, Executive Director of Eagle Wings Food Pantry in Washington, NC. "There are families throughout the county that are pretty isolated and have limited access to fresh food, let alone local, healthy food. It would be great to see more fresh food options not only available to clients of the food pantry, but also throughout the community in stores and groceries." The Center for Disease Control states that good nutrition is vital to good health, disease prevention, and essential for healthy growth and development of children and adolescents. Evidence suggests that a diet of nutritious foods and a routine of increased physical activity can help reduce the incidence of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Heart disease, cancer and diabetes are currently the leading causes of death in Beaufort County and the rest of the nation.

    These are exactly the kind of issues that are being addressed by a food assessment being done in Beaufort County by the Mid-East Commission, the regional planning organization for the county, and the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, a non-profit based in Pittsboro, NC that serves both consumers and farmers throughout North and South Carolina.

    The assessment is being funded by a grant from the Kate B Reynolds Charitable Trust as part of Healthy Places NC, a new place-based initiative that has started in Beaufort, Halifax and McDowell Counties. The initiative is aimed at improving the health and overall quality of life for people in rural areas in North Carolina. The trust is currently funding several projects in the county aimed to increase opportunities for healthy eating and active living.

    , Eagle Wings Food Pantry and other community partners will be surveying clients on healthy food access during the month of August as part of the assessment. There will be a series of community meetings in Aurora, Chocowinity, Belhaven and Washington to talk about fresh food access and the benefits of eating fresh and locally. Attendees of the meetings will also be surveyed on healthy food consumption, food access and possible solutions to increase healthy food options in Beaufort County.

    Another series of meetings will happen in October to discuss the results of the surveys, and to talk about possible steps forward to increase the availability of healthy foods. The Mid-East Commission and the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association will publish an Action Plan in late November that will present the data learned through the surveys and will recommend possible solutions to increase local, fresh, healthy food options in Beaufort County based on the input from the community.

    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeaufortCountyHealthyFoodActionPlan

    Schedule (2 meetings per day, only need to attend one, meetings will last around 2 hours)

    •   Aurora: Monday, August 12, 10am and 6pm at Aurora Community Center
    •   Chocowinity: Thursday, August 15, 10am and 6pm at Chocowinity Fire Department
    •   Belhaven: Monday, August 19, 10am and 6pm at Belhaven Civic Center
    •   Washington: Thursday, August 22, 10am and 6pm at Beaufort County Cooperative Extension Auditorium

    Contact: Carolina Farm Stewardship Association

     Jared Cates, Communications Coordinator
       (828) 719-0143 or jared@carolinafarmstewards.org  •  www.carolinafarmstewards.org