Creating a Farmer's Market and Educating a Community on Healthy Food Snacks

Student Participants: Erica Begin, Madalyn Guzman, Cherytta Hogan, Debbie Mondesir, Dominique Pierre, and Ana Pearson

The Rogerson Community is in the city of Roxbury, MA. The two dominant ethnic groups in the area included African Americans and Latinos. Also in the area were many bodega style markets throughout the community that catered to the two ethnic groups. A bodega is small market that contains perishables items, snacks, cleaning supplies, cigarettes, newspapers etc.

At first site a potential problem noted about the community was the lack of grocery stores. This was a potential problem because a community without grocery stores can lead to bad food choices thus leading to health issues like obesity etc. 

Through our observations we decided to create a farmer’s market where we would give the elderly fruits and veggies as well as teach them healthy snacks they can eat. We provided teaching via trivia in question and answer format in a group setting.

Our nursing clinical group provided the group with two healthy snack choices. First snack choice was hummus cup with sliced cherry tomatoes, and cucumber slices. Second snack choice was low sugar yogurt cup with assorted berries (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries). We also offered two types of infused waters one infused with lemons and the second with muddled mint.

Healthy eating for many of these community members is not common and many rely on the Rogerson community day program to provide meals or live in group homes where fresh fruit and healthy snacks are not widely available.

We found that many of the clients benefited from our teaching in regards to achieving healthy eating habits that could help them control their various medical conditions. All the clients were engaged and very enthusiastic about learning alternative snack options.