Page 45 - Robeson Living Spring 2020

“The new grant started in January,” said SeHealth’s She said she was proud to be involved in the project.
Healthy People, Healthy Carolinas Facilitator Cathy
Hunt. “This year is the third year of the first round. We’ve
got 10 evidence-based programs under the grant that ad-
dress the main issues in different ways.”
One of the programs seeded from the first round of grant
funding recently began to literally show fruit, though
technically it was vegetables. SeHealth’s Community
Health Services funded several agriculture programs at
each Robeson County high school, working with Future
Farmers of America (FFA) students to grow food for the
pantry at Robeson County Church and Community Cen-
ter (RCC&CC). This month, the first crops were harvest-
ed and donated: turnips and kale from Red Springs High
School and collards from Lumberton High School.
“We’re excited about this opportunity to work with local
schools and the food pantry,” Hunt said. “We’re one of
the most food insecure areas in the state. Our goal is to
make the Robeson County Church and Community Cen-
ter a ‘pantry of choice,’ where those in need can choose
between several healthy food options that are available,
almost like a grocery store.”
With their share of the grant funding, the different FFA
programs are growing vegetables, herbs, and raising
chickens for eggs.
“We’re looking at doing some hydroponics as well,” Hunt
said. “Everyone is on board, and we’re experimenting
with different ideas.”
Jada Jackson, the FFA advisor at Lumberton High School,
said the students grew 170 heads of collards this semester
that they harvested and donated this month.
“Normally, all of our plants that we grow are sold as fun- has been so great for our partnership is because we have
draisers, with 100 percent of the money going to pay for
things like conferences, but these will go into the commu- ganization to have fresh produce for our food pantry re-
nity aspect of FFA,” Jackson said. “Being able to partner
with the hospital provides an opportunity to give back to
the community, which we were searching for. Our goal is
to continuously provide fresh seasonal crops for people in
our community that can’t afford to go to a grocery store
and buy non-packaged items. This way they’ll get 100
percent nutrition and know where their food came from.”
Anna Mercer, 16, is the reporter for the LHS FFA chapter.
Robeson Living ~ Spring 2020
“In our motto, it says, ‘Living to Serve,’ that’s something
we always strive to do,” Mercer said. “We want to be able
to help our community, so when we got the opportunity to
plant these collards, we were really happy to know it was
going to go to a good cause.”
Other programs that have received funding from this grant
are the Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH)
Program, which partners with Public Schools of Robe-
son County (PSRC); CATCH Kid’s Club, which partners
with Robeson County Parks and Recreation Department
and PSRC after-school programs; Chronic Disease Self-
Management Program; CATCH Early Childhood, which
partners with LRDA Head Starts; Walk with a Doc; Safe
Routes to Schools, which partners with PSRC; Commu-
nity Café, which partners with various townships and
organizations; Community Garden, which partners with
Southside Ashpole and the Town of Rowland; Healthy
Food Pantry, which partners with RCC&CC; and Point of
Decision Prompts, which partners with Town of Rowland
and SeHealth. As the coalition moves forward, it hopes
to add more programs and expand existing programs
through additional partnerships.
“We’re looking forward to beginning the next grant cycle
and thankful that The Duke Endowment has put their trust
in us to be one of their partners in the Healthy People,
Healthy Carolinas grant,” said SeHealth’s Community
Health Services Director Lekisha Hammonds.
RCC&CC Executive Director Andrew Collier said get-
ting fresh produce for the food pantry has been difficult
in the past.
“Part of why the Health People, Healthy Carolinas grant
struggled for the entire existence of this 50-year-old or-
cipients,” Collier said. “It’s been on our radar for a long
time to try and have fresh produce. Produce is some of
the most expensive food you can buy. To be able to offer
fresh produce, even on a limited basis, is a game changer
for us.”
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