The Neighborhood Resource Center of Greater Fulton in Virginia has received a Turnip the Beet award from the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for its garden and summer meal program.
According to a USDA blog post from Patty Bennett, the Mid-Atlantic administrator for the Food and Nutrition Service, the NRC, based in Richmond, Virginia, is recognized for its excellence. She noted in the blog the program includes the Learning Garden, a fully functioning urban farm that features bees and butterflies, providing a fertile ground to grow fresh herbs and produce.
“We recognize that access to food is a human right,” Breanne Armbrust, executive director of Neighborhood Resource Center of Greater Fulton (NRC), said in the blog post on the USDA website.
Armbrust also noted that the NRC’s mission is to ensure its neighbors, including children, can have access to nutritious food that also recognizes cultural trends. She also pointed out in the release that the Summer Food Service meals are enhanced with the produce grown in the garden, providing a connection for community members.
According to the release, the Learning Garden is a patch of land where produce and herbs can be planted, harvested and eaten, and the organic garden gives hundreds of pounds of fresh produce each year.
Moreover, the release also noted that NRC uses the produce in its Summer Food Service Program for children and adults and its monthly food pantry.
