Throughout the summer of 2022, ASAP will present a series of on-farm symposiums for healthcare professionals in Western North Carolina to highlight the principles of Farm Fresh for Health. Farm Fresh for Health addresses the real and perceived barriers that influence what we eat and determine health outcomes. ASAP and community partners are using strategies and initiatives built around:
- Produce Prescriptions
- Nutrition Security
- Workplace Wellness
- Wrap-Around Clinical Health Services
- Cooking Classes
- Farm to School
- Social Determinants of Health
Each symposium will introduce key strategies and highlight examples from ASAP and the community, including projects from ASAP’s Community in Action initiative. Attendees will take part in farm tours, hands-on activities, and facilitated discussion about how they can use Farm Fresh for Health tools in their own practices to improve health outcomes. A seasonally focused farm-to-table meal (lunch or dinner) will be provided by a local food partner. Space is limited at each symposium. A $20 registration fee offsets the cost of meals and materials.
LUNCH
Catered by Launa Marie of Homemade Pasta Noodles.
KEY STRATEGIES
Produce prescription programs, farmers market SNAP incentives, farmers markets as social healthy eating environments
PRESENTERS
Meredith Friedheim is the downtown events and Hendersonville Famers Market coordinator for the City of Hendersonville. Hendersonville Farmers Market aims to be a world-class market that contributes to the success of local producers and growers, expands access to farm fresh foods, and creates a vibrant community gathering space.
Sonya Jones is the founder of Caja Solidaria, which offers a produce prescription program, and the coordinator of Henderson County Committee for Action and Nutrition (CAN). Prior to that, Sonya was a professor of public health for 19 years.
Stephanie Stewart, Manager of Population Health and Team-Cased for Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC). MAHEC is dedicated to excellence in clinical care, health professions education, and innovative practices that can be replicated nationally. MAHEC serves as a partner for ASAP’s Farm Fresh Produce Prescription program.
Amy Lazarus Yaroch, PhD , is the executive director of the Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition and project director for the the GusNIP Nutrition Incentive Program Training, Technical Assistance, Evaluation, and Information Center (NTAE). Her areas of expertise include dietary assessment, obesity prevention and intervention, and food insecurity and investigating its coexistence with obesity and other related factors.
Jennifer Trippe, director of ASAP’s Growing Minds Farm to School program, is a Registered Dietitian with nearly two decades of experience working to improve the health and well-being of the Western North Carolina community. She has worked at MANNA FoodBank, Food Connections, and as a WIC Nutritionist and Diabetes Educator.
Larissa Lopez is a program coordinator for ASAP’s Local Food Campaign. She is the lead on several of ASAP’s Farm Fresh for Health programs, including expanding workplace CSAs and wellness programs and the Farm Fresh Produce Prescription program.
Mike McCreary is ASAP’s farmers market program manager and has developed ASAP’s SNAP incentive programs. Under Mike’s management, in 2009 Asheville City Market was the first market in Western North Carolina to accept SNAP/EBT.
Additional presenters will be added. Check back for updates.