OLEAN — Kids were munching on fresh, crunchy vegetables as if they were candy during Wednesday’s Veggie Mobile visit to Alder Court.
The weekly event, also held at Olean Housing Authority sites, Seneca Court, Martha Court and the Olean House, is now in its second summer of providing fresh vegetables and other amenities to residents.
Athena Godet-Calogeras, health education volunteer with the Cattaraugus County Health Department, said the program also offers recipes, tastings, activities for children as well as materials for residents to make container gardens. One new event this summer is a nutritional information and cooking demonstration provided by Elyse Burgher of “Just Say Yes to Fruits and Vegetables.”
Godet-Calogeras understands the difficulty of low-income families obtaining fresh produce, as she grew up in a housing project.
“In this area there are people who don’t have access (to fresh vegetables) because of transportation and often suffer from nutritional problems, such as obesity,” Godet-Calogeras said. “We said, ‘Let’s take it to them.’”
Last year’s pilot program was only held at Alder Court for families and Seneca Court for senior citizens. This year, the program added Martha Court and the Olean House. Approximately 400 people total receive help.
The program is a collaborative project between Canticle Farm in Allegany, the health department and other groups.
In addition to produce, fresh blueberries were provided by Tan Childs’ blueberry farm. Falconer Farm also plans to provide produce in upcoming weeks. Other area businesses have donated seeds and plants for the container gardens.
Alder Court residents Ronald Smielecki and Carleen Walterich, who have two children, appreciate the program.
“This is absolutely amazing. It’s so hard to get fresh fruits and vegetables (without pesticides); this is all naturally grown,” Walterich said. “This is a big help to us having a family, because we’re trying to eat healthier.”
Another resident, Juanita Valenciana, has several children and stepchildren and enjoys gardening.
Valenciana served as the lead resident for the garden and recruited other families to set up gardens near their apartments.
“We passed out at least 15 pots, and the kids put seeds in them,” she said.
“It takes a lot of time, but I love it because I’m growing my own food. It’s the best part of it.”
Althea Bauernschmidt, a St. Bonaventure University psychology professor, volunteers with the project and is gathering statistics on the benefits of the program.
“I’ve been going to Canticle Farm for a while now and asked them how I could help out,” Bauernschmidt explained. “Last summer, another professor developed a survey to get a general idea of how people are eating and using vegetables.”
Another survey will be conducted to determine if the program helped people and if they would like projects such as this to continue, Bauernschmidt said.
(Contact reporter Kate Day Sager at kates_th@yahoo.com)
