By Steve McCrossan, Executive Director
A quick glance:
- NHRMC provided 30 volunteers to distribute over 2,000 pounds of farm fresh fruits and vegetables to 198 kids and their families on the Northside
- NHRMC employees collected 12,852 food items worth $11,952
WOW! Our partnership with New Hanover Regional Medical Center (NHRMC) is off to a tremendous start! It all started with a message from Dr. Philip Brown, NHRMC’s Chief Executive Physician, to hospital employees; “This is the last week of school and man are my kids excited!!! Sad thing is, for 25% of the school kids in our region, summer time is hungry time. That’s right, 25% of our region’s school children are food insecure, with not enough to eat on a daily basis. New Hanover Regional has a mission of Leading Our Community to Outstanding Health, so we can’t let that happen.” This message quickly snowballed into a collaboration with NourishNC.
NHRMC and their employees have just blown us away with their commitment to fighting child hunger. The NHRMC team spent a week collecting nearly $12,000 worth of high quality, non-perishable food. This food will go right into our kid’s bellies via NourishNC’s Backpack Program (K-5), Nourish Boxes (6-12), and our emergency food pantries. As if that wasn’t enough, NHRMC capped off the week by sponsoring our Farmer’s MarKID on the Northside of Wilmington and staffing it with volunteers. Their team distributed over 2,000 pounds of produce to 198 kids and their families! Hospital staff was also on hand to provide a wealth of educational resources including handouts on early childhood development and behavioral milestones as well as a live visual demonstration of how dangerously hot car interiors can get.
But we aren’t don’t yet. NHRMC is helping ensure our staff is well-trained and that our kids are well fed. The NourishNC team will attend professional development classes like “Developing a Foundation for LEAN Leadership” taught by NHRMC/SEAHEC professionals. Later this Summer hospital dietitians will also conduct a nutritional evaluation of our backpack program. Awesome, right!? We are in the lab planning more collaborations so keep your eye out for the next great thing from NHRMC and NourishNC.
PS. We also need to thank our amazing community partners for joining us at the MarKID. Feast Down East, DREAMS, NC State Cooperative Ext., Whole Foods, Smart Start, Fit for Fun, Farmin’, and the Produce Box were all on hand to offer educational material, fun, and free food!
