Fight Covid-19 with Nutrients. Support Winter Farm Stands for Neighbors in Need+holiday giving

COVID-19 spotlighted glaring health disparities. We know that African-Americans are dying at two or three times the rate from complications from the coronavirus than white or more affluent Americans.

We know they mostly live in low-income neighborhoods known as food deserts - places lacking access to affordable fresh fruits and vegetables. 

We know that African-Americans and Latino Americans suffer from heart disease, obesity, diabetes at 2 or more times the rate as those more affluent - illnesses that end up being a death sentence with Covid-19. Absent solutions to poverty, eating fresh and healthy is a sure way to fight this terrible virus.

Why then, year after year, there are NO farmers markets in these neighborhoods - the ones in highest-need - during the winter months? While more than a dozen farmers markets continue in New York City's richest neighborhoods November to June, there are none in those most in need of nutrients. 

Now, you can do something about that! Seeds in the Middle is operating THREE year-round farm stands in cooperation with wonderful schools in Brownsville and Flatbush. And we may add another in Gowanus! If you support us! Plus - you can help us make sure we address racial food inequity for the holidays.

What do we need to keep up the farm stands? Outdoor heaters to keep our workers and volunteers warm, pop-up tents or greenhouses to protect them from the elements PLUS we want to ensure everyone can buy farm-fresh produce so we need FREE coupons so no matter where you live, you can afford to eat healthy and fight COVID-19. We also plan some free fresh food giveaways for the holiday season, like our Flatbush Holiday Farmstand.

Help us build and expand our community-run Hip2B Healthy Market and farm stands, help students in low-income neighborhoods engage in outdoor learning and growing edible gardens to enpower them for a healthier future.

It's no surprise to Seeds in the Middle that minority Brooklyn residents, living in food deserts like Brownsville and Flatbush and Gowanus are the ones dying at the highest rates from COVID-19.

Despite the millions being allocated for free food for the city's most vulnerable, fresh food remains sparse. Seeds in the Middle is hearing from many of our communities that they can not get fresh fruits and vegetables that can arm adults and children with the nutrients to fight off disease. 

So we're partnering with PS-IS 178, PS 284, IS 240 and now PS 38 to help erase food deserts and create healthy places to live and learn.

Please donate to empower students to get low-cost and free fresh fruits and vegetables to those who need it the most and build sustainabile businesses that can outlast today's emergency free giveaways. Support us to work alongside educators to promote, share, and enforce healthy habits that can outwit disease. We'll share recipes and information on nutrition and tips to stay well, so families can cook with children at home and help students at home to be academically challenged through cooking.

We also engage talented volunteers who care about health disparities and want to address socioeconomic and racial injustices that undermine health and happiness for so many in the city.

We applaud the city for making efforts to get food to those most in need in central Brooklyn's vulnerable neighborhoods. But we hear from parents that the NYC Dept. of Education "Grab and Go" is not food they can cook at home nor address their concerns for adequate nutrition for their children.

We need funds for materials to ensure protection for winter markets, provide heat, pay for EBT/SNAP wireless equipment and supplies and for food to launch our Hip2B Healthy Markets and farmstands so children can eat nutritiously when they return to school, plus we need to buy a commercial refrigerator to store fresh farm produce not immediately sold at the market. 

Our big goal out of this pandemic is to empower people in communities of color - in food deserts - to run their own neighborhood, affordable, nearby fresh food stands where economic incentives like food stamps - SNAP/EBT - Farmers Market Nutrition Checks, FMNP - and every other incentive for low-income residents is accepted. We want to build an economy of fresh and healthy, just like that available to more affluent neighborhoods not suffering at the high rates of African-American and Latino residents in NYC. The start-up cost of farm stand with Seeds in the Middle is $10,000-$12,000 for 12 weeks and pays a manager and stipends for youth.

Just take a look here at articles that show how minority Americans are suffering the most and dying in higher numbers from COVID-19:

• See AARP here.
• Diabetes and Heart Disease put Americans at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19
• Look at health disparities for diabetes from Centers for Disease Control here 
• Look at the map of COVID-19 cases and deaths by zip code and you will see how dire the situation is in Brownsville. 
• Look at the dire health statisics for Brownsville by the NYC Health Department - a neighborhood just 20 minutes from affluent Park Slope or Cobble Hill.

Let's help everyone cook, eat fresh, and be healthy. We have strong, smart partners in Brownsville, Flatbush and Gowanus!.Let's build the bridge so we all rise.

Dec. 19 - buy fresh food for giveaways in Gowanus for those in need for the holidays with PS 38 and kick-start our farmstand 

Dec. 24 - Buy fresh food and supplies for giveaway for commuinty event to promote markets and ensure everyone is eating fresh.

Dec. 10-Dec. 19 - buy heaters, extension cords, pop-up tents and protections for markets as needed

Dec. 10 - March 31 - set up markets and conduct markets, outdoor growing, erect hoop houses to protect garden beds at schools we can, plus hold big fresh food event for Martin Luther King Day of Service

Low-income neighborhoods are predominantly occupied by African-Americans and other people of color. These neighborhoods are systemically deprived of markets offering affordable fresh fruits and vegetables, which provide critical nutrients to fight disease. Despite millions of dollars in government support for free food, none of these initiatives teach a "man or woman to fish" - basically build their own sustainable community-run healthy businesses that can last long after the money for all the donations and free giveaways are gone. 

Just look at this New York Times story on racial inequity impact of Covid-19.

Additionally, the fact there are no farm stands during the winter providing fresh produce from local farmers and those from the South is simply discriminatory. We need to develop local capacity to run their own markets to ensure everyone has EQUAL access to fresh produce and nutrition that can prevent diseases like diabetes, heart disease and now Covid-19, which are killing and maiming people of color at much higher rates than anyone else.

Studies show that local commuinty-run initiatives make change, plus our projects with schools ensure that youth can gain important entrepreneurial and academic skills to build self-confidence and succeed in life.

Food injustice is systemic in NYC. We all need to work together to empower all to create opportunity to lead a healthy life. Our winter farm stands is a positive step. There is no excuse for the absence of farmers markets in neighborhoods where the need is the highest while the most privileged have bountiful options year-round.

We can change that together.