Food Can Be Fun! Camp Lessons about Healthy Eating for Kids
For children at The Salvation Army Red Shield Club, summer camp is more than outdoor activities and crafts. Campers also get to enjoy a special Farm to Camp program—a partnership between The Salvation Army and Raleigh City Farm—a nonprofit urban farm founded in 2011 on a formerly vacant one-acre lot in downtown Raleigh. The organization’s mission is to create healthier communities and to reconnect city residents with healthy food production.
The Farm to Camp program is one of their outreach efforts aimed at getting kids to eat healthier foods. “The kids visit the farm and get to see what an urban farm looks like and understand where food comes from,” said Lisa Grele Barrie, executive director at Raleigh City Farm. “My hope is we are planting a seed, opening up new food choices.”
The Salvations Army’s partnership with Raleigh City Farm started in 2019.
“The program teaches our campers valuable lessons about sourcing, preparing and eating healthy food,” said Red Shield Program Director Sarah Smith-Ruiz. “Our families have shared that the Farm to Camp program has introduced new healthy snacks and meals for their camper and they are very pleased with the outcome.”
For some children accustomed to eating pizza or other highly processed foods, the Farm to Camp program exposes them to new fruits and vegetables they may have never experienced before. Chefs lead the classes and cook on site, giving the campers a chance to sample a variety of new dishes. And parents get to take home additional produce.
This year the camp program also incorporated mindfulness and empowerment sessions thanks to a partnership with Workplace Options.
Sharing it Forward
As part of its Farmshare program, Raleigh City Farm ensures that what is harvested is affordable and accessible. A greenhouse allows them to grow a range of produce year round and throughout the year they share their harvest with local nonprofits that address food insecurity. Some of their partners include Interfaith Food Shuttle, the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina and Carolina Cares. They also host a seasonal Pay-What-You-Can Farmstand where members of the Raleigh community can purchase produce, herbs and flowers.
As Raleigh City Farm looks to expand they have added two additional parcels to their current location and hope to open another farm site soon.
“We want to increase equitable access to healthy food to support a healthier community,” said Grele Barrie. “Our goal is to increase engagement and outreach activities to deepen the community’s knowledge of regenerative agriculture.”
Thanks Raleigh City Farm for sharing your bounty with us and the community!