Conetoe, N.C.— On Friday November 21st, representatives from Word Tabernacle in Rocky Mount, NC Department of Agriculture and local farmers throughout eastern North Carolina came together for the community.
The Faith, Food and Farm Collective is spearheaded by Pastor James Gailliard of Word Tabernacle Church. "We had a lot of people coming in that were low income and some that had health issues," Trishonda Robinson explains. "They had issues such as high blood pressure and diabetes, and we wanted to make sure that they were getting food fresh from the farm."
"We have so many farmers. How to we buy directly from our farmers? How do we grow this ecosystem where we are supporting farmers and the people in our area?" These were the questions, Robinson said, that lead to the creation of the Collective.
There were several very generous farmers connected with this initial event: Theresa Shackleford Collins with Shackleford Family Farms out of Snow Hill, NC, Donald Hines with Hines Family Farm in Jacksonville, NC, and Patrick Brown of Brown Family Farms out of Warren County, NC.
The Faith, Food and Farm Collective were able to serve 634 households, 1922 individuals in 9 counties from this one event. Image how many people can be serviced if more communities get behind this initiative.
The Carolinian will be posting a video here that dives deeper into this initiative and the farmers themselves. Find the video on our website www.CARO.news.
