Wellness center launches garden and micropantry for Earth Day
Published on Tuesday, April 23, 2024 at 10:10am
In honor of Earth Day, the Chambers County Community Health and Wellness Center hosted events including gardening, cooking classes, and food drives.
On Saturday, Auburn University faculty and students helped build a community garden behind the Health and Human Services Center building to grow plants and vegetables. Chambers County Extension Coordinator Rachel Snoddy said the idea came from student intern Jay Rodriguez.
“It was a great event,” Snoddy said. “It was a beautiful morning. Many people, including students and local residents, came out to volunteer and help with construction and planting.”
The goal was to provide the community with resources on healthy habits for Earth Day. Booths were set up with informational materials such as East Alabama Rape Counselors, Auburn University Cardiovascular/Blood Pressure Screening, and Auburn Psychological Services.
There was also a ribbon cutting to celebrate the recent addition of a micro-pantry to store non-perishable food donations from food drives. Visitors and the 15 to 20 volunteers who came to help were provided with bags of nonperishable food to take home.
“We are currently fully stocked and anyone is welcome to come pick up food from the food pantry,” Snoddy said. “We still have some leftover bags that also have groceries for people to come to the center and pick up for free.”
Center staff and students will maintain the community garden. All produce is available free of charge to visitors to the Health and Wellness Center.
Although the end of the semester is nearing, the center will continue to host weekly speech-language-hearing exams, immunization clinics, and Wednesday blood pressure screenings.
The center also held exercise and cooking classes last weekend to encourage healthy habits. One of the center’s student interns hosted a cooking class in partnership with Esperanza House, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for Hispanic children and families.
