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Rooted in Community: Growing Holistic Health

daydigginsnichole

“Give a person a fish, and you feed them for a day; teach a person to fish, and you feed them for a lifetime.” This famous quote is coming to life in the backyard of 1415 Town Square Lane, HealthFinders Collaborative’s (HFC) newest location in Faribault. Although no one is fishing, a community garden with the potential to empower healthy lives is taking root in an influential way. The goal of this garden is not just focused on producing vegetables, but rather providing a holistic look at healthy living focused around the garden’s produce and the community it creates. Raquel Rendon, an HFC community health worker, says, “I can envision future diabetes classes where participants will learn about nutrition … harvest produce in the community garden and learn how to prepare healthy foods in HealthFinders’ kitchen.” Here, patients are truly learning how to maintain a healthy lifestyle with resources that will be realistically available to them. HFC volunteers and staff are working tirelessly to develop a community-based food program which includes increased access to fresh produce, nutrition education, and a community garden where HFC patients can learn about northern gardening and how to prepare the foods grown here, all while meeting new neighbors (socially distanced, of course!). The availability of fresh produce to share with patients is possible due to a longstanding partnership with community-supported agriculture (CSA) farmers, Betsy and Andrew, at Spring Wind Farm in Northfield. For the last few years, we have collaborated to provide fresh produce to clients in our waiting rooms, as well as engaging patients by working on their farm. Understanding that diet greatly impacts health, nutrition education has always been an important element of HFC’s diabetes management and wellness classes. Providing access to fresh vegetables and the experience of the community garden will create hands-on learning experiences, all while building community health and connectivity.

Dr. Bob Aby, an HFC volunteer provider leading the charge of the community garden initiative, believes, “This community garden will be a success if it gets people thinking about healthy eating and creates a sense of community.” Without Dr. Aby’s drive and willingness to spearhead the project and his ability to recruit others to get involved, this community garden would not have started this year. “Dr. Aby has been passionate about this food access program from the start, and, without his drive, this garden would not have happened, especially now," shares Charlie Mandile, HFC’s executive director. “While we were focusing on our COVID response, Dr. Aby brought a host of expert volunteers to till, fence, and plant a large garden at our new facility.” One of these expert volunteers is Susanna McDowell. She has worked with HFC through her job at Rice County Social Services, but she is also a master gardener. As soon as HFC acquired the property last year, she reached out with the idea and shared her knowledge and experience to ensure that the project would be successful. Without her expertise, HFC would not have been able to plant this garden. While in-person events  may continue to be limited due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, innovative ideas are still in the works – from digital cooking classes and alternative food distribution to different time slots for clients to come work in the garden – still allowing first-hand experience with gardening and associated food preparation. This determination to benefit the community, even in a time of crisis, is well-expressed by Abdullahi Abdigaani, community health coordinator at HFC, who believes that, “For Dr. Aby, this is more than food security or healthy eating … This is a bridge that not only links health to habitat, but also health to the healing power of the human-to-human connection.”

Growing the Impact While this promising project is ongoing work of the entire HealthFinders community, additional funding is needed to ensure that the program is able to grow. Future hopes for this initiative include acquiring a shed to store garden equipment and furnishing a food pantry with a glass-front refrigerator to display the contents of the garden and CSA farm produce to individuals at HFC's Faribault location. Although it may be a garden to some, this is the next step in addressing the healthcare issues that Rice County faces in a holistic way.

Get Involved If you wish to support this or the other work of HealthFinders, please consider making a  donation  today.
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