When Kids Choose the Ingredients, Something Changes.
The best community programs don’t begin with a predetermined solution. They begin by listening and learning.
Two years ago, our friend Katy Rey and Fostering Hearts helped us recognize a gap in nutrition education and healthy food access at Joshua House. We responded with a summer program and partnered with Bola Adeshina and The Peace Workout, who showed us just how powerful hands-on learning can be when it is engaging, joyful and built around the young people participating.
This year, with generous support from Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, we expanded that work into an eight-week program.
The children and staff have been in the kitchen together—prepping ingredients and making homemade smoothies, salsa, vegetable salads and fruit salads. Avocados and starfruit emerged as unexpected favorites, while baked potatoes and smoothies were clear winners to be made back at the houses.
After each lesson, the children and staff get to “shop” at a mini farmers market we create for them, choosing fresh produce to take home and deciding what they will make with it.
By learning hands-on and having access to the ingredients, children build the confidence to make healthy choices that extend well beyond the lesson itself.
But the most meaningful part may be watching children and staff connect, try something new and enjoy food together. Because our work has never been only about providing produce. It is about using food to create experiences, strengthen relationships and build healthier communities.
That is how we Build Community Through Food. 💚
Thank you to Fostering Hearts, The Peace Workout, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital and the entire Joshua House team for helping us shape a program around the needs of the young people you serve.
