News from the FaHN Team

Happy Spring! We are excited to introduce you to the newest member of our team Cristina Quinn who's with FaHN for her spring semester at Binghamton University. From Cristina: 

"I have been lucky enough to work with the Food and Health Network this year for my Human Development practicum through Binghamton University. In the short time that I’ve been with this amazing team, I have learned so much about health-centered programming and collaborations across organizations. FaHN’s dedication to community health and food security continues to encourage me that change is possible.

This May I will be receiving a B.S. in Human Development and a B.A. in Sociology. These degrees, along with my education minor, have further motivated me to pursue work aiming to create more sustainable, equitable communities.

Food justice is a part of nearly all of the organizations that I'm involved with. I have been working with VINES and Promise Zone since February to expand their farm share program in Whitney Point through community school outreach. I am also the Program Director for Binghamton Food Rescue, a donation-based nonprofit that rescues and redistributes surplus food at no-cost to food insecure regions of Broome County. This has given me the unique experience of being involved with multiple partner organizations that work towards the same goals. I am excited to continue my work with FaHN in the upcoming months!"

April is National Garden Month

Do you manage a local community, educational, or urban garden? If so, help us by filling out our 2016 Community Garden & Urban Agriculture Survey. The information will be used to track progress and changes, aid in outreach, and help support a regional network of community-based food producing initiatives. We hope the report can be a tool to help link volunteers/interested gardeners and support linking excess produce with food programs. View our 2015 report by clicking here. 

Looking for other ways to get involved? Visit your local Cornell Cooperative Extension website to find additional resources on gardening and to find local events. Community organizations such as VINES and Farm Catskills also offer gardening workshops and volunteer opportunities.

Click on the image below to access our National Garden Month
feature on the Ithaca Children's Garden: 

Farm to School News

April Member Spotlight: Chenango United Way

Written by Elizabeth Monaco, Executive Director of Chenango United Way:

In the summers of 2015 and 2016, the Greater Chenango Cares IRT project partnered with military service members to provide no-cost medical, dental, vision and veterinary care for the greater Chenango County region (and Cortland County region in 2016). In both years, survey data was collected from patients to determine the types of health needs facing our community and the barriers to addressing these issues.  

The IRT events and the results of this survey data left our community with many unanswered questions regarding the need for future/on-going services for the un-insured and under-insured families of Chenango County and its surrounding communities. Most notably, the IRT dental clinics were full every day and perspective patients had to be turned away because there were simply not enough providers to see all of the patients in need. 4,969 dental procedures were performed at the 2015 Chenango IRT and 2,350 procedures at the 2016 Chenango IRT. More than 55% of IRT attendees surveyed stated that they did not see a dentist regularly and cited lack of dental insurance and cost as their primary barriers.

To read more about how you can get involved with the Chenango County Health Community Impact Team (HCIT) and to read the rest of the article visit our Food for Thought Blog. Read more about the Chenango United Way by visiting their website!