A new plant-based food program is helping Thomasville seniors manage chronic illnesses through free meals, health screenings, and community support.
50 seniors served weekly with 4 free plant-based meals Health data tracked through A1C, glucose, and BMI testing Program powered locally using Black-owned farms, chefs, and labs
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
From blood pressure to blood sugar, what Thomasville seniors eat can make a big difference.
I’m showing you how one group is using food as medicine and putting local farmers to work in the process.
We usually think of food as fuel. But eating the wrong things or even too much of the right ones can do serious harm.
According to the CDC, 12.2% of adults in Thomas County have diabetes, and 34.1% have high blood pressure.
Both numbers are higher than the state average.
But a local group is working to change that with plant-based meals, health checks, and community education.
“So watching, again, my parents and grandparents, aunts, uncles, deal with diabetes, cancer, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, these preventable diseases, and knowing that there’s ways incrementally that we can make changes. I don’t want to see anyone die prematurely if there’s a way to prevent what’s going on. And for me, in the community that I grew up in, in Thomasville, Georgia, like I said, Dewey City, Fruit City, Madison Street, Magnolia Street, these are my people. This is my family,” said Calhoun.
Jasmin Calhoun is helping lead the charge through the Thomasville Community Development Corporation, which just received an $11,000 grant from Drawdown Georgia.
The funding helps serve four plant-based meals a week to around 50 seniors at the Scott Senior Center plus lab work to track their health over time.
“Being a diabetic for so many years, type 2, and I have to watch what I eat. And I’m on a lot of medication. They try to keep my A1c that is higher than it’s supposed to be. The doctor’s trying to watch it because it can get so low, it can get so high. I can go into a coma, sleeping coma. It’s a high-pressure coma,” said Mary Francis Curry, Thomasville senior.
May Curry tells me she’s grateful to be part of something that makes her feel seen and supported.
“We’re just trying to better the diets. So eating stuff that you’re used to, that’s traditional, but finding better ingredients, ingredients that have less, finding food items with less ingredients, being conscious to the labels that we’re on and what we buy, and fresh produce is another thing that we’re conscious to,” said Alvin Davis Chef.
And the feedback?
“Oh, it was fantastic, especially the fish. Oh, I wish I could get the recipe. It’s real good,” said Curry.
The team tells me the first round of testing should happen by the end of the year.
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