Leading Our Community to Outstanding Health

Steve McCrossan, Executive Director

NourishNC is thrilled to partner with New Hanover Regional Medical Center (NHRMC) in “Leading Our Community to Outstanding Health.”  As part of its strategic emphasis on becoming a national leader in health equity, NHRMC launched its Health Equity Program. Health equity refers to the social reality that not all patients have the same access to health care, or the same ability or opportunity to access the care that is available. As a part of this initiative NourishNC and NHRMC are collaborating on several projects:

Farmer’s MarKids: NourishNC’s MarKIDs are a direct and hands on approach to improving the health of children in our community. We take free fresh fruits and vegetables to wherever kids need us: food deserts, parks, playgrounds, after school programs, high need schools, and other nonprofits. NHRMC has generously provided the funding and the volunteer power to bring literally tons of fresh food to children in our community.

Dietician Review: Planning the food that goes into our backpacks is a strategic process. Our bags must be light weight, kid-friendly, easy to prepare, and nutritionally dense. To help with this last part, NHRMC Wellness Dietitian, Sara Parrish, RDN, LDN, performed a nutritional review and recommended some great changes to our bags that are being implemented now. Stay tuned for more on this in a future post.

LEAN Training: NourishNC believes in “Kaizen,” or continuous improvement of our organization, our operations and  services, and of ourselves. To that end, all of our employees attend SEAHEC’s 3 day Developing A Lean Foundation for LEAN Leadership in Healthcare Systems classes. NNC team members use the knowledge from that training to consistently cut costs, increase efficiency, and improve service delivery

Leadership/Collaboration: We are blessed to have NHRMC’s Corey Yingling MSN, RN-BC,  and Shannon Thompson, FNP-C, serve on NourishNC’s Board of Directors. Corey is a LEAN Facilitator/Coach and brings those skills to bear on NourishNC’s board governance. Corey is also our liaison to NHRMC and spends countless hours organizing hospital volunteers, Farmer’s MarKids, and a gigantic food  drive by NHRMC employees.  Shannon is a Board Member Emeritus and NourishNC co-founder. We are also fortunate to collaborate with Dr. Philip Brown, MD (Chief Physician Executive), Scott Whisnant (Administrator of Community Engagement) and Joe Conway (Director of Health Equity and Human Experience) on a host of projects.

Thank you to all of NHRMC’s employees for helping NourishNC provide healthy food to hungry children, empowering them to succeed in the classroom and in their community. We can’t do it without you!

Our vision is to be anywhere and everywhere hungry kids need us

NourishNC has three strategic programs specifically designed to provide nutritious food to hungry children in our community.

Click here to learn more about our Backpack Program

Backpack Program

The Backpack Program provides food insecure children, pre-K through 5th grade, with three nutritious meals a day, every weekend, and over every school break.

Click here to learn more about Market On Market program

Market On Market

The Market on Market (The MoM) is a full-service grocery store where food insecure children, pre-K through 12th grade, and their families can shop to choose the food that is best for them.

Click here to learn more about our Food Farmacy program

Mobile Market on Market

Mobile MoM is a custom-built market that revolutionizes nourishment for food-insecure children and their families.

Click here to learn more about our Food Farmacy program

Food Farmacy

The Food Farmacy Program provides non-perishable and fresh food items through partner organizations such as schools, pediatrician offices, and other nonprofits.