Last week, two members of our Nutrition Education team, Food Matters Coordinator Katherine Moser and Nutrition VISTA Morgan Medders, attended the NC WIC Conference reception, Making a Difference with the NC 10% Campaign held at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel and Convention Center in Durham. The NC 10% Campaign encourages consumers to commit 10 percent of their existing food dollars to support local food producers, related businesses, and communities in order to build North Carolina's local food economy. At Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, we are committed to growing a local food economy that is accessible to all and feeds everyone healthy, nutritious food. At the reception, Katherine and Morgan were able to talk to attendees about Inter-Faith Food Shuttle's proactive hunger-relief programs. They also had the opportunity to talk with WIC directors and nutritionists from across the state about the Shopping Matters for WIC Parents curriculum, which entails guided grocery store tours that help low-income adults to make healthy and affordable choices at the supermarket. Our nutrition education programs aim to educate and empower our neighbors and community to select, grow, and prepare nutritious foods on a limited budget. Participants in Shopping Matters tours learn information and practice skills that help them to understand how to purchase fruits and vegetables economically, save money by comparing prices, and make healthier choice by reading food labels and ingredients lists.
This video about our field gleaning program, which makes local food more accessible by helping to get fresh produce from local farmers' fields into the hands of those in need, was played during the reception.
The NC WIC program also held a food drive at the evening reception benefiting IFFS’s BackPack Buddies program, which provides weekend meals for children in need!
What a great event for raising awareness of the importance of nutrition education and building a secure, healthy, sustainable, and just local food economy as key pieces in the fight to end hunger!