Charlotte Urban Farm Partners with Insurance Company to Provide Agriculture, Food Education | WFAE 90.7

Wisdom and Cherie Jzar own and operate Deep Roots CPS Farm, a seven-acre farm in northwest Charlotte that grows fruits and vegetables, as well as raises goats, chickens, and two inquisitive horses.

Major, one of the horses, was hovering nearby. A mobile henhouse stood at his feet, where young hens flapped and clucked. He stamped his hoof impatiently at Cherie Jzar, who wanted a treat.

This summer, 30 students between the ages of 8 and 18 attended a summer camp to learn, among other things, how to take care of Major. Cherie Jzar offered Major a mint-flavored cookie.

“(The students) had never ridden a horse, they had never touched a horse,” Cherie Jzar said. “So we taught them all about the different aspects of Major’s body.”

The students’ tuition was partially funded by a $10,000 grant from the Aetna Foundation. In addition to caring for the cookie-loving Major, they also planted seeds, picked vegetables, and helped package produce.

“The first day, the kids were basically picking out everything green on their plates,” Wisdom Jzar said. “But by the third day, they were so into it because they saw it.”

The students saw vegetables go from seed to plant and finally something they recognized at the grocery store. On the last day of summer camp, the students gave their families a tour of the farm to show them what they had learned.

“The idea was how do we do something that starts from the seed and works its way all the way to the table,” said Nick Duran, chief business strategy officer for Medicaid and health policy at Aetna Better Health.

Uptown Farmers Market and CW Williams Community Health Center received a combined $30,000 to help people buy and prepare local produce. This is the first time Aetna has awarded a series of grants of this type.

According to the nonprofit Feeding America, about 12% of households in Mecklenburg County do not have adequate access to food. Uptown Farmers Market, which already participates in the SNAP Double Bucks program, will host Triple Bucks Day on September 21 thanks to funding from Aetna. The farmers market will match eligible purchases up to twice for food assistance recipients.

“If you don’t have access to food, if you don’t have a roof over your head… Those factors largely determine a person’s overall health,” Duran said.