Dear readers, I love sharing the accomplishments of ECU faculty and students addressing the nutritional health of people in North Carolina. And I like to point out great local opportunities to learn more about healthy eating. Today I will share both.
Dr. Lauren Sastre, a native of western North Carolina, joined the ECU Nutrition faculty in 2018 and was struck by the stark disparities in rural eastern North Carolina, especially in the rates of food insecurity, diabetes, hypertension and stroke. Recognizing that poor nutrition is a common denominator, she envisioned a solution that creatively leverages local resources, community partnerships and ECU students.
I asked her to share the story of ECU’s Farm2Clinic initiative. But before she does that, let me encourage you to participate in a unique fundraising opportunity that she and her ECU student team are doing to raise money to continue their great work. They have launched interactive, hands-on cooking classes in Greenville this fall. Those who sign up will learn new cooking techniques, receive recipes with health benefits from specific ingredients and taste a wide range of dishes. If you go, you will learn while having fun, and the proceeds will help provide resources to rural communities and meaningful training and learning opportunities for ECU students.
The classes include themes such as “Quick, Simple, Budget-Friendly Healthy Meals” and “Healthy Eating on the Go,” including breakfast, wraps, salads and healthy snacks. There will be several themed evenings including “Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice,” “Hearty Harvest: Soups & Quick Breads” and the family/kid-friendly “Cookies and Cocoa with Santa: A Magical Kids’ Experience” with Santa, cookie decorating, crafts and hot cocoa. Classes for ECU students include the pizza and cookie night “Slice & Ice: Pizza Making + Giant Cookie Decorating,” the taco-themed night “Taco ‘Bout a Party,” and the Halloween-themed “Twas the Night Before Halloween: Spooktacular Sweets, Halloween Treats, & Spooky Fun.”
The series is offered both on ECU’s main and the health science campus. For details visit tinyurl.com/cooking-class-ecu or call 744-1005. Special group packages also can be booked. Contact Sastre for more information at sastrel18@ecu.edu.
Sastre attracted grant funding to do the initial Farm2Clinic work. I am excited she is finding a way to keep their excellent work going. Too many great programs end when the grant funding runs out. Here is what Sastre wants you to know about the initiative that creatively leverages local resources, community partnerships and ECU students from lots of majors, including nutrition and dietetics.
Repurposing produce
ENC is home to an abundance of fresh, healthy food, but sadly, for lots of reasons, up to half of some crops are left in the fields unharvested. To reduce those losses, the Society of St. Andrew works across North Carolina collecting surplus produce from farms and connecting it to those in need with a tax credit provided to farmers (endhunger.org/north-carolina). Our team asked, “What if we worked with the Society to use our local produce as healthy food treatment for chronic diseases including diabetes?” This “Food as Medicine” idea of giving “produce prescriptions” to patients to access more fruits and vegetables is growing in popularity around the country. Our Farm2Clinic runs a unique Food as Medicine model, with unharvested or unsold produce connected to vulnerable and resource-limited patients in rural ENC who receive care in clinics that are members of the North Carolina Association of Free and Charitable Clinics (ncafcc.org) for nutrition-related diseases.
Success stories
Examples of our programs that have made a significant impact in eastern North Carolina include the HEALED Farm2Clinic Program (Healthy Eating and Active Lifestyle to Enhance Diabetes management), where for six months over 40 ECU students harvested and delivered fresh recovered produce weekly to 40-plus patients in Wayne County. Students helped collect, analyze and document the important improvements in blood sugar with the results published in the CDC’s Preventing Chronic Disease (cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2023/22_0384.htm). Our program grew and received funding and support from The Duke Endowment and Food Lion Feeds.
Today, Farm2Clinic trains with 50-60-plus ECU students across multiple colleges, programs and departments each year. Many are volunteers and others receive course or internship credit as they provide services to more than 300 food-insecure patients across 23 rural ENC counties. Over 100,000 pounds of fresh produce have been collected and redistributed. Farm2Clinic trained ECU students to provide 1-on-1 nutrition and lifestyle coaching including physical activity and food and health literacy. Partners include the Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC, numerous rural churches and community centers and internal ECU support like Dr. Bhibha Das from the Department of Kinesiology.
Patients have shown better blood sugar, blood pressure and social-emotional well-being. ECU students and rural community participants have reported positive impacts. One patient said, “I joined F2C because I thought diabetes had control over me and I now I have control over my diabetes,” and an ECU student explained, “Working with F2C helped me to realize this is the type of work I want to do one day.”
Long-term support
As mentioned, the revenue from cooking classes you can sign up to take will ensure the long-term sustainability of Farm2Clinic. Funds raised will support direct program costs — fuel to get to remote sites, ingredients and supplies for culinary medicine and group classes, and stipends for students who move from volunteer/internship roles to leadership roles.
Join us for a cooking class, and you’ll not only enjoy delicious food but also make a difference in the lives of others in rural ENC. Come cook with us.
If you are interested in supporting Farm2Clinic through the cooking classes, go to the ECU online U-Store link provided and click on Cooking Classes. To make direct donations or volunteer with programming needs such as gleaning/harvesting/food collection, cleaning/organizing supplies or attending/supporting a visit to a rural partner and assisting with class and food distribution, contact me at sastrel18@ecu.edu.
We hope to see you in a class soon.
Local News
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