Creating A Healthy Local Foods Environment
A Community Forum hosted by the Healthy Suffolk Coalition“Advancing Wellness & Livability”
The Healthy Suffolk Coalition will host a community forum, Creating a Healthy Local Foods Environment, on Tuesday, November 12 from 10 am - Noon, at the East Suffolk Community Center. Our guest speaker will be Reverend Richard Joyner, Pastor, CNN Hero, and Farmer. Participants will include community gardeners and program partners.
Presentations:
- Keynote remarks from Rev. Richard Joyner
Suffolk Farmers’ MarketBooker T. Washington Elementary School Garden
Church garden programs
- Take a tour of Healthy Suffolk’s Demonstration/Teaching and Community Gardens
- See our exhibit of seasonal and local Fall produce
- Information for Fall and Winter gardening will be provided
Light refreshments will be served.Optional box lunch will be offered. Choose your lunch option during the registration process below.
Please RSVP by November 5Space is limited.
Our Keynote SpeakerReverend Richard Joyner is Pastor of the Conetoe Chapel Missionary Church and oversees the Conetoe Family Life Center. In 2007, he established a church garden program which is an intergenerational program involving youth and elders which has now grown into a 25 acre farm. Richard been awarded the CNN Hero Award, the Encore Purpose Prize, and the Healthcare Heroes award from the Triangle Business Journal. His program has led his rural community to better health by helping students grow and distribute 50,000 pounds of fresh food each year.
“Today, the garden is a veritable business, producing thousands of pounds of vegetables worth hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. Joyner and the children give much of the food away — to senior citizen homes, hospitals, and poor families, with the goal of cutting monthly grocery bills in half. They sell the remainder of the food at farmers markets. The garden is largely funded by community donors. Joyner has partnered with several churches to sponsor health fairs, as well as the county school system and local agriculture extension.”
