posted Apr 13, 2013, 4:02 PM by Karthik R
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updated Apr 13, 2013, 4:11 PM
]
You may have heard of the USDA's new dietary recommendations, summarized at choosemyplate.gov. One of their main suggestions is to make half your plate fruits and vegetables. We wanted to see how a typical fast food meal measures up to the MyPlate. So we went to one of America's largest restaurant chains, and bought a small order of fries, hamburger, and soda. We arranged the food on a plate to correspond to the USDA's MyPlate diagram. Well, here it is!
As
you can see, fast food has quite a large vegetable section, if french
fries count, that is! Last we heard, cows weren't producing soft drinks,
either. And fruits? I guess we forgot to pick up that slice of apple pie.
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posted Mar 8, 2013, 5:56 PM by Karthik R
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updated Mar 8, 2013, 5:57 PM
]
It's been a while since we posted on this blog, but a lot has been happening at Farm Fresh For Kids. First off, we have new brochure that we would love you to share with family and friends! Thanks to Ryan, our Print Materials Manager, for putting this together!We also recently presented our project to the University of Nevada's Public Health Coalition. With the generous help of one member there, University students can now intern at FFFK through the Community Health Sciences Field Studies class! |
posted Nov 26, 2012, 5:03 PM by Karthik R
Much of this year’s success is thanks to the HAWC Dental Nutrition Clinic, which gives nutrition classes to low-income families whose children need dental operations. This was the perfect fit because with our coupons, families could apply what they had learned in class.
The following chart compares our program to the government’s similar program, WIC FMNP, which operates in over 30 other states. We calculated the number of participants who signed up, divided by the number who spent their coupons, for each clinic. We realized that many may claim to want fresh produce coupons, but not all will actually go to the farmers’ market to spend them. Fortunately, we only pay farmers for coupons which they redeemed, so no money is wasted on unspent coupons. We are proud to be partners with the Dental Nutrition Clinic, which has effectively integrated FFFK into their overall program. For next year, we plan to help HAWC Medical Center and other interested clinics do the same. In addition to getting their patients to spend coupons, the clinic also collected the following survey data regarding the effectiveness of the program.Question
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Yes
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No
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Did
you spend any of your own money on fruits or vegetables?
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38%
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62%
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Did
the program make your children interested in eating more fruits and
vegetables?
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100%
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0%
|
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Did
the program inspire you to feed your children more fruits and vegetables year
round?
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100%
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0%
|
|
|
|
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posted Nov 11, 2012, 11:31 AM by Karthik R
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updated Nov 11, 2012, 11:32 AM
]
Dear Supporters, Partners, and Friends,
Between
July 9th and October 6th, FFFK recipients redeemed a total of $910 worth of coupons, $895 directly
at a farmers’ market, and $15 in
local produce from the Great Basin Community Food Cooperative, one of
our new 2012 partners.
We have also
given out $143.95 of fresh fruits and vegetables through the Community
Services Agency (CSA) Head Start program, a nonprofit preschool serving low-income
families. The produce has been jointly supplied by the Cooperative and our true
& loyal partner Workman Farms. Don’t think we stopped there, though.
We are very excited about new partnerships with Lattin Farms, Salisha’s Delicious and a nutrition
clinic within the HAWC Community Health Centers.
Things at the
farmers’ market were going so well, though, that a fourth farm started
accepting our coupons with no prior agreement! This confusion likely occurred
because Carrol’s Corner’s was placed adjacent to Lattin Farms and had no
prominent sign, so both booths looked like they belonged to Lattin Farms.
We were quite
surprised when Mr. Carrol, who we’d never met, presented us with $70 of coupons
one day. Keeping in line with our mission to help small-scale farmers, we
decided to honor the coupons. It certainly was quite a welcome change, after
the lack of coupon-spending last year! |
posted Oct 6, 2012, 6:23 PM by Karthik R
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updated Oct 6, 2012, 6:24 PM
]
Today was the last farmers' market of the season where FFFK participants could redeem their coupons. We had a successful season and are proud of the results.
However, our 2012 program will continue through the end of this month at the Great Basin Co-op, where participants can sample a variety of fall vegetables. Stay tuned for our detailed program report which will come out near the end of the month! |
posted Aug 8, 2012, 11:28 AM by Karthik R
This past month, Farm Fresh For Kids gave out 50 packages of coupons. Here's the breakdown:- Wells Avenue Clinic received 10 packages of coupons redeemable at the Great Basin Co-op.
- Various divisions of HAWC / CHA Nevada received 40 packages, all of which are redeemable at the California Avenue / Booth Street Farmers' Market.
We just started working with the Co-op last month, because we wanted to try providing patients with additional variety beyond what could be provided by three farmers (last month, Lattin Farms joined us as the third farmer).
It's exciting to have all bilingual packages now, so we don't need to provide separate English and Spanish packages to each clinic! We've cut down on wordiness as well, but have left all the essential elements. Just a few days until the next distribution! |
posted Jul 26, 2012, 12:45 PM by Karthik R
The following was written by the CEO of Share the Care, whom we chanced to meet last month at a conference: Share the Care is an organization that helps people in poor conditions around the world by giving them resources that they need , like health care. Our first project was in Africa. We raised US $1,000 last year. We bought five medical machines for the hospital in Uganda. We got Fetal Dopplers, and Infant Finger Clip Sensors. You can donate online at http://sharethecare.yolasite.com. |
posted May 24, 2012, 3:46 PM by Karthik R
A few months ago, we gave you an update on what our Health & Social Justice club had been doing. Now school is out at the Davidson Academy, and our club has completed a full semester of 14 meetings. After our initial Haiti discussion, we moved on to other topics.
Our next broad topic was health care and health policy in the United States. We started surveying current opinion by listening to an interview with Marcia Angell, chief editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. We then talked about Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), a new popular option for individuals to cover their medical expenses. Our opinion was that HSAs are only useful to wealthier Americans, and that HSAs couldn't effectively serve the health needs of the entire American population.
Although these inequalities are pervasive throughout the landscape of American medicine, it is heartening to see that many clinics in western Nevada are providing alternative solutions, such as HAWC Community Health Centers, with a sliding-fee scale, and the UNR Student Outreach Clinic, which provides completely free care.
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posted Apr 19, 2012, 7:28 PM by Karthik R
At long last, Farm Fresh For Kids is able to provide enthusiastic supporters with a straightforward method to donate. We have launched a new donate page, available at http://www.farmfreshforkids.org/support. Using WePay, you can contribute online with around 3 clicks and the provision of some basic information. Furthermore, we are offering some special incentives for donors...check out our support page to learn more!
Of course, the old-fashioned check still works for us. With people spending so much time online these days, though, it really didn't make sense for us to continue in the oblivion of paper-hood.
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posted Mar 17, 2012, 2:32 PM by Karthik R
A few months ago, we announced the start of the HSJ Club (Health & Social Justice), as an outreach component of Farm Fresh For Kids. Now that all of the members have gotten used to the routine, and we have made some progress, it seems time to provide an update.
As an introduction to the club, we began by discussing poverty in Haiti and Partners In Health, a medical charity providing free health services primarily in the Central Plateau. Our main discussion concerned - Should Haitian health care be primarily directed towards prevention, or towards curing all the sick people in Haiti? The jury was hung on this question. However, we all strongly supported PIH's strategy of employing local Haitians as community health workers, which has already provided many formerly-impoverished families with stable financial support. |
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