Mini-Grant Recipient Success Stories: Palm Beach Harvest, Inc.
In 2017-2018 Palm Beach Harvest, Inc. was awarded a Healthier Jupiter Mini-Grant for their Healthy Harvest Family Gardens Project with Thelma B. Pittman Jupiter Pre-School.
Palm Beach Harvest, Inc.’s is the number one provider of rescued food in Palm Beach County. Food Banks, Churches, and other non-profits rely on millions of pounds of donations we rescue each year in order to feed the hungry in Palm Beach County.
Their Healthy Harvest Family Gardens Project helped Pittman preschool plant a garden, teach students and parents about healthy eating and help two low income families plant small gardens on their property.
Palm Beach Harvest, Inc. shared this story with Healthier Jupiter…“when Justin Dunlap of Southern Unique Sustainability invited the 50 or so people at the garden reveal to add worms to the grow beds, about 10 pre-school students, parents and some of the staff placed their hands in the soil while adding the worms. This resulted in many reactions, questions and delight to be a part of something they never experienced before. When Justin said “you are what you eat”, many people began thinking of healthy eating in a different way than grocery shopping. When he asked one of the children where do tomatoes come from, the answer was” Publix”!
Palm Beach Harvest, Southern Unique Sustainability, and the Florida Health Department remain committed to encouraging healthy food choices countywide, including Jupiter. Palm Beach Harvest will continue to try to identify a partner organization based in the Jupiter area to implement future healthy gardening programs.
Palm Beach Harvest’s project met Healthier Jupiter’s focus area to support changes in the built environment and community policies that promote equitable opportunities for healthy living, especially focusing on increasing availability and affordability of fresh, healthy foods .
About Healthier Jupiter’s 2019-2020 Mini-Grant Program
Healthier Jupiter, a community initiative founded to address health and quality of life issues, for the fourth year in a row, Healthier Jupiter will offer Mini Grants to impact the health of our community. The goal of the Mini Grants is to fund innovative projects that have measurable impact and can create meaningful, transformative change in the health, wellness and success of the greater Jupiter community. The grants will allow civic organizations, churches, temples, schools, government entities and nonprofits to fund pilot ideas to improve our collective community health in one of four focus areas:
Increase the availability and affordability of fresh, healthy foods;
Help individuals become more physically active on a regular basis;
Encourage people to engage mentally and physically to practice healthy behaviors; and/or
Support changes in the built environment and community policies that promote equitable opportunities for healthy living.
For more information about Healthier Jupiter’s Mini-Grant Program please visit healthierjupiter.org/grants. Here you can learn about past recipients, get some great inspiration from innovative ideas from around the country, and submit an interest form (which is required to submit a grant).
Healthier Jupiter is funded through a generous grant from Palm Health Foundation in partnership with Jupiter Medical Center, as part of the countywide Healthier Together Initiative.