 On June 7, several families will begin receiving free boxes of healthy, local produce for 9 weeks through Farm It Forward, a new program designed to help people with financial and medical needs to improve their health through good nutrition. They also will receive hands-on instruction on how to cook with all those great seasonal foods in their CSA (community shared agriculture) boxes! Conceived by farmers Ben Shields and Patricia Parker of Ben's Produce, Farm It Forward is a great example of our community coming together to further AHA's mission to increase access to healthy foods to people in Wake County.
Farm It Forward is a collaborative effort among AHA, local farms Ben's Produce and New Grass Gardens, WakeMed's Energize! program, and the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. Through financial support from the community, the farmers and AHA, Farm It Forward enables participants in Energize! to receive free shares and cooking classes. Energize! is a WakeMed Children's Diabetes & Endocrinology Program to help kids aged 6 to 18 reduce their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by teaching them and their families how to build lifelong healthy attitudes about food and fitness during a 12-week course. The Farm It Forward recipients also will take a free Cooking Matters course, courtesy of the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, to learn how to get the most nutrition out of a limited budget through these hands-on, nutrition-based cooking classes. Families will share some of the produce from their boxes at the weekly cooking class designed to help them make educated choices about how to grow, cook and eat the best foods possible. "Farm It Forward is about helping food insecure people in our area have access to locally grown, healthy foods," Shields said. "Community is very important to us, and we're looking forward to this program growing so that even more people can benefit from local foods." If you would like to support Farm It Forward by contributing financially for CSA shares for additional Energize! families, AHA is accepting checks payable to WakeMed with Advocates for Health in Action in the subject line. Please mail checks to WakeMed, 3000 New Bern Ave., Raleigh, NC 27610, ATTN: Laura Aiken, Farm It Forward. Thanks to Market Restaurant and all those in the community who have helped financially support this program through fundraisers at Market held earlier this month! | 
