- Clair Community Garden gives away fresh produce and offers free cooking lessons to North Omaha families.
- The $46,000 CHI grant pairs nutrition education with on-site preventive health screenings, including blood pressure, A1C, and cholesterol checks.
- Kids in the program say schools aren't teaching them about healthy eating — the garden is stepping in to fill that void.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
A $46,000 grant from CHI is helping Clair Community Garden advance its mission of educating and empowering neighbors in North Omaha through nutrition education, free produce, and preventive health care.
From the garden to the kitchen table, every lesson is designed to make healthy eating simple, affordable and fun.
"I'm trying to show them, in different vegetables, how you can cook it in many different ways," Portia Cavitt said.
It's a life skill many kids say they aren't learning at school, unlike some of their parents or grandparents.
When asked what they learn in school about healthy eating and food, kids responded: "Um. They don't really teach that."
The grant is designed to improve the health and well-being of underserved communities by combining nutrition education with preventive health care.
"In partnership with the North Omaha Area Health, the North Free Clinic, where they will come over, do our blood pressure, our A1Cs, and cholesterol, so that we know our numbers, and we set goals to try to get those numbers where they need to be," Cavitt said.
Healthy habits don't happen overnight, but organizers say small changes — like adding fresh vegetables to a pizza or not buying junk food — can make a big difference. And they're changes the whole family can make together.
"Everything that we grow, I try to think of a way that they would like it to taste it. So each child has an opportunity, not only to pull the weeds, but to see the vegetable growing," Cavitt said.
With the new grant, those opportunities will continue to grow, giving more families access to fresh produce, nutrition education, and healthier futures.
"We know the increasing cost of fresh fruits and vegetables that we give it away free here at the church, and they can also come and not only cook it, but also taste it in delicious meals," Cavitt said.
The garden hopes the investment will continue to pay off for generations to come.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
