HHCC whips up healthy eating ideas

BY BRYCE KELLY

Mt. Pleasant News

Healthy Henry County Communities (HHCC) board had food on the brain during their regular meeting on Tuesday, as much of the board business focused in on the activities of the healthy eating committee.

Taking the top of the list was Ken Brown, director of The Fellowship Cup, as Brown spoke about how food could help bring in more people to the local organization.

?At one time, The Fellowship Cup was much more of a community center where people came to meet up and spend time together as a community, and I want it to be that again,? said Brown. ?For example, apples are really big right now. So, in theory, we could have someone come out and give a quick cooking class on how to cook with apples or make applesauce...something that not only the folks that come to our weekly food pick-ups could benefit from, but that anyone in the community could come and benefit from.?

Brown, along with HHCC director, Kelly Carr, also discussed branching out from food-related topics, and offering healthy lifestyle classes at the Fellowship Cup that would focus on topics such as gardening or canning.

?We are also discussing the possibility of inviting local 4-H clubs, gardening clubs and so on to do regular classes or seminar-type presentations at The Fellowship Cup that would bring people of all types to The Fellowship Cup to meet and learn as a community,? said Carr. ?These are things we are really thinking a lot about and want to start doing.?

While nothing has been scheduled permanently at this time, Carr says the HHCC healthy eating committee is inviting all local residents with ideas to contact her and share them with the board.

Along with discussing future ideas, the HHCC board was also briefed on a pre-existing program that was started in Winfield, and has since been growing. As of Oct. 15, HHCC, The City of Winfield, the Winfield Betterment Group and the Mt. Pleasant Hy-Vee have teamed up to offer free grocery delivery to Winfield on a weekly basis.

So far, the program sees about six to eight orders per week. Deliveries are made once a week to Winfield City Hall, where Winfield residents are then able to pick up their purchases. All grocery orders are placed and paid for through Hy-Vee?s online shopping feature by Winfield residents.

?This has been working very well so far, and has really exceeded our expectations. It really ties in well with our mobile grocery plans, and I hope the longer it goes, the more people will take advantage of it,? said Carr.

According to Carr, members of the Winfield Betterment Group have been hugely instrumental in volunteering their time to man the delivery and pick up of groceries, which has allowed the program to run smoothly.

?They have really championed the program, and we (HHCC) have not had to do much now that it?s up and going, which is great. Residents have definitely taken ownership of the program, and made it their own. We?re very happy with it,? she said.

In reviewing one of the year?s largest projects, the Your Plate, Your Health program, the healthy eating committee reported that there are now 47 healthy food options at the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion - three more than last year, and a 29 percent increase in healthy food sales during this year?s Henry County Fair.

Other topics of discussion included reports of three recent HHCC events including the following:

? Walk to School Day on Oct. 9, which was successful, according to several board members who volunteered at the event. Exact participation numbers are still unknown, but members reported a increase in participation compared to last year.

? Forty-seven people participated in the Healthiest State Walk, in Mt. Pleasant, on Oct. 7.

? The recent Healthy Halloween Walk on Oct. 18 took the most participation by far with reportedly 370 participants in total.

The next HHCC meeting will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016, at Henry County Health Center?s Health Education Center.