Proud Member of:

PRODUCE FOR HEALTH PROGRAM

Produce for Health (PFH) is FBSJ's latest program to combat malnutrition in economically disadvantaged communities throughout Southern Jersey. Utilizing a grant from the State of New Jersey and working with the local farming community, FBSJ is providing more than 25,000 lbs of fresh, grade A produce a month to approximately 45 charitable feeding programs located in and around Camden, Burlington, Gloucester and Salem County. The distribution usually includes five different vegetables and two fruits. The vegetables include such things as potatoes, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, celery, carrots, green peppers, broccoli, asparagus, and spinach. The fruits include apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, honeydew melons, bananas, blueberries and cantaloupe.

Every order is different but the formula the same every time. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables can help you ward off heart disease and stroke, control blood pressure and cholesterol, prevent some types of cancer, avoid a painful intestinal ailment called diverticulitis, and guard against cataract and macular degeneration, two common causes of vision loss.

An example of what a deserving family would receive is:

• 5 lb bag of potatoes

• 2 lb bag of onions
  

• 3 lb bag of carrots
  

• A bag of 6 tomatoes
  

• 1 lb bag of spinach
  

• 5 lb bag of apples
  

• A honeydew melon

The initial stages of the program focuses on distribution, the second stage of the program is to combine nutrition education and culinary arts to round out the full benefit of the program. The important goal of the program is to make sure that children and seniors are eating healthy through this program, the secondary and tertiary goal is to assure that it’s a sustainable program that will involve the entire community including the local food industry.