March was an exciting month for H.O.P.E. Inc. as we launched not one, but two new partnerships with local Atlanta farms — aGROWKulture and Live Healthy Gwinnett.
By providing fresh, healthy food boxes for our program participants, these partnerships will help single-parents meet their nutritional and financial needs as they raise healthy families and pursue their higher education goals!
For many single parents, managing the cost of living can be overwhelming and difficult. It can be a challenge to afford rent from month to month, much less pay extra for healthy, organic groceries on a regular basis.
“Over the past couple of years, we have witnessed a large increase in the cost of living,” Kenita Smith, H.O.P.E. Inc.’s founder, says. “This continues to affect low-income families and their ability to afford simple items that we often take for granted, such as access to fresh, reasonably priced produce.”
An urban farm owned by Kendall Rae Johnson, aGROWKulture grows over 700 pounds of fresh produce a year, with over 1,500 youth farm community workshop participants. Live Healthy Gwinnett launched in 2014 as a partnership between Gwinnett Parks and Recreation and Eastside Medical Center with the goal to encourage community health and wellness.
Through our partnership with the two farms, our participants will be offered fresh, locally-grown produce boxes for free or discounted rates, ensuring our single parents have access to healthy food. These boxes will be available on a weekly basis, depending on the family’s needs.
“We decided to partner with aGROWKulture so that our HOPE participants have access to fresh, healthy produce while supporting a locally owned business,” Kenita says. “Kendall Rae Johnson’s mission of influencing youths in agriculture practices, sustainability, entrepreneurship, and agriculture pathways is inspiring and aligns with H.O.P.E.’s mission to empower and equip low-income single parent households with the necessary means to start their path towards self-sufficiency.”
We are so excited about how these partnerships will impact our single-parent households and contribute to the health and wellness of their families!
You can also partner with H.O.P.E. Inc. by volunteering or becoming a donor today! Learn more about our program and how you can get involved.
