Local Food Clinic for Community Members in Franklin County

by Sophie Schouboe

The Local Food Clinic provides community members with an easily accessible, welcoming environment to learn about the food access and health resources available in Franklin County. This program capitalizes on strong community partnerships, bringing cross-disciplinary expertise working together to address key barriers to food and health access.

The Local Food Clinic will provide a free, monthly drop-in opportunity focused on connecting residents of Franklin County with local food and health resources aimed at addressing food insecurity. The clinic will take place outside and be paired with the Just Roots market once a month from June through November. Program partners will provide friendly, knowledgeable expertise within their service area; promoting a holistic, healthy lifestyle.

In June there will be representatives from Just Roots, the Franklin County Community Co-op, the Center for Self Reliance, the Community Health Center of Franklin County, the Food Bank of Western MA and Project Bread. Between those organizations we will be offering information about SNAP enrollment, HIP updates, Health Insurance enrollment, nutrition information and information about how to access other local resources. There will also be a food demonstration put on by Project Bread that offers free samples and recipes for people to take home. The clinic is co-sponsored by Just Roots and the Franklin County Community Co-op. The food demonstration will feature vegetables from Just Roots that will be available at the Just Roots CSA pick-up and market that will take place next to the clinic.

Sophie served as a Community Engagement Coordinator at Just Roots for TerraCorps 2017-2018