The Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has a rich heritage in food production, but an increased reliance on processed foods has left them susceptible to America's obesity epidemic. One way to battle this problem is to increase the availability of locally grown, healthy food choices, and the Red Cliff Mino Bi Ma De Se Win (Return to the Good Life) Community Farm is tackling the problem head-on.

AmeriCorps VISTA Carl Butterfield, Red Cliff's Agricultural Developer, has been working on the project with two other VISTA members to provide fresh food for the tribe and ensure the sustainability of the farm. The food grown in its gardens have a wide-ranging impact – reaching everyone from children in the Early Childhood Center to the Bayfield Public School to the reservation's senior program and the community at large.

A Challenging Environment

The Red Cliff Band mostly live along a 14-mile span of land that traces the shores bordering Lake Superior in Wisconsin. The tribe's 1,367 members have limited access to healthy food due to issues of proximity (the nearest grocery store is 30 miles away), limited financial resources, and a shortened growing season. These factors have left many there at risk for obesity and related diseases like heart disease and diabetes.

The tribe purchased the farm eight years ago, and VISTAs have been on the project for about six years. The plan is to strengthen the capacity of the farm that will serve 40 percent of the tribal community. In the short term, the farm will help the tribe provide its own produce; in the long term the gardens may provide a new revenue source.

To make the most of the growing season, the farm utilizes greenhouses and traditional hoop houses to give seedlings a more hospitable environment before they are transplanted to the garden in June. Butterfield says classes from the Early Childhood Center and Bayfield School participate in the planting process and enjoy picking apples in an adjacent orchard.

“It's a teaching tool that gets them involved in the growing process,” Butterfield said. The hope is that the early introduction to the farm will influence their habits and choices as they become adults.

Butterfield became a VISTA three years ago and even though his term ends later this year, his involvement won't end any time soon.

“I'll be involved with this farm for the rest of my life,” he said.

Success Stories are Growing

To mark the first anniversary of Lets Move! in Indian Country, the White House is hosting several leaders with stories about how they have helped Native American communities live healthier lifestyles to reduce the occurrence of obesity, especially in children.

The initiative, led by First Lady Michelle Obama, focuses on four areas that will foster a healthy future for the Native American population:

• Creating a healthy start on life

• Developing healthy learning communities

• Fostering healthy, comprehensive food systems policies

• Increasing opportunities for physical activity

Butterfield will participate in the White House panel discussion on June 1, 2012, at 1:30 p.m. Eastern that will highlight his project and others that can be replicated across Indian Country. To watch a live stream of the panel, go to www.whitehouse.gov/live.

A few weeks ago, a brand new AmeriCorps program, FoodCorps, brought together 50 newly-minted members for a week long training. While there, several of the members shared what inspired them to join a program designed to addressing our country's childhood obesity epidemic through school gardens and farm-to-school programs
 

USDA data shows that only 2% of kids eat enough fruits and vegetables and 1 in 4 young adults are too overweight to qualify for military service. Statistics like these don't exactly paint a hopeful picture for the future. But a new national service organization, FoodCorps, has set out to change that.
 

Summer is in full swing, and it's time for some healthy competition! Around the country, local organizations from churches to community centers are busy serving meals to kids through the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), a federally-funded program that provides free, nutritious meals and snacks to help children in low-income areas get the nutrition they need throughout the summer months when school is not in session.
 

Youth Service America and UnitedHealth Group are tackling childhood obesity from a new direction: by asking children and youth across America to take action and address this critical issue. The UnitedHealth HEROES Service-Learning Grants, launched two years ago to support youth-led programs, have supported the initiatives of more than 360 schools and community organizations. Asking young people to have a meaningful impact on communities by implementing innovative ideas is an important part of service-learning, a teaching and learning strategy that makes connections between community service and curriculum.
 

Childhood obesity is a growing, yet often overlooked issue within Hispanic households. Families, including my own, often dismiss childhood obesity with terms like “gordito” or “llenito,” to overlook the fact that a child might be overweight.
 

This post is a special guest blog post by a staff member at the Corporation for National and Community Service. While on a family vacaction abroad, Stu and his family took a little time to do a service project involving gleaning. This past May I traveled to Israel for an extended family Bar Mitzvah celebration. June, my wife, and 14 other family members and I participated in a Leket project. Leket is the Hebrew word meaning to glean, a practice documented in scriptures dating back thousands of years. Leket, also known as Table to Table, is Israel’s largest charitable “food rescue” and “food bank” organization.
 

According to a 2009 study, more than 40 million American grow fruit, herbs and vegetables in home gardens – and that number is increasing. These gardeners, given good soil, access to water, lots of sun, and a little bit of luck, typically wait for months for their crops to start bearing fruit. Once they start the harvest, they use, preserve and share the bounty... but the squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, and other fruits and vegetables keep on coming, and from personal experience, I can tell you that there are only so many cucumbers you can give to friends if you still want them call you a friend. While some gardeners compost the excess produce, many others simply let it rot in the garden or worse, throw it into the trash.
 

In the past few months, a 50 x 50 ft. organic community garden in Ames, IA called the Service Patch has hosted over 567 volunteers donating nearly 800 volunteer hours and 230 pounds of food to Iowa food pantries and shelters.
 

People across the nation are reading and moving this summer. Following the lead of United We Serve and the First Lady, Americans are dedicating themselves to becoming active and engaged mentally and physically. Some are joining and creating summer learning programs, others are getting involved in summer sports activities, and many are planting and growing gardens.
 

United We Serve: Let’s Read. Let’s Move. is thrilled to be collaborating with CHEFs for Schools in the effort to combat childhood obesity! Created to address the growing problems of obesity, malnutrition and poverty in New York City, Cheap Healthy Eco-friendly Food (CHEFs) for Schools works to increase awareness of proper nutrition, meal preparation, and environmental consciousness in New York youth.
 

United We Serve: Let’s Read. Let’s Move. is excited to be working with Family-to-Family in the effort to increase access to healthy and affordable food and promote literacy this summer.
 

This summer, ARAMARK launched a community summer of service initiative focused around family health and wellness. ARAMARK, an international corporation that provides professional services, food services, facilities management, and uniform and career apparel to health care institutions, universities and school districts, stadiums and arenas, and businesses around the world, has embraced community service and volunteerism as a mean of encouraging healthy lifestyles and build healthy communities.
 

Earlier this week, Philadelphia kicked off their Let's Read. Let's Move. Philadelphia initiative. Leading the way is Chief Service Officer, Catherine Wolfgang - Philly is one of 10 Cities of Service with a Chief Service Officer. The Rockefeller Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies have given grants to ten cities whose mayors have committed to increase the amount and impact of service in their communities.
 

United We Serve: Let’s Read. Let’s Move, is happy to be working with Meals on Wheels in an effort to ensure access to healthy and affordable food for all Americans, young and old.
 

Childhood obesity is a serious and growing epidemic. It cuts across all categories of race, ethnicity, family income and locale. For the first time in our history, American children may face a shorter expected lifespan than their parents. That is why the Corporation for National and Community Service has joined forces with the Department of Health and Human Services, the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and the First Lady’s Let’s Move. initiative to address this important issue facing America’s future as part of United We Serve’s summer initiative, Let’s Read. Let’s Move.
 

A key component of the United We Serve:Let's Read. Let's Move initiative is using service to increase access to healthy and affordable food for youth. This summer, farmers, gardeners, market managers, and volunteers can expand their impact by connecting with United We Serve and utilizing the Let's Glean! Toolkit.
 

It is always exciting to see what happens when a community comes together to develop solutions to its most pressing issues. Led by Rev. Kenneth S. Robinson, M.D., Pastor and CEO of St. Andrew AME Church Enterprise, more than 22 South Memphis organizations, business and religious institutions worked together over 18 months to plan how to revitalize their neighborhood - and today, we see the first fruits of that labor (literally) with the opening of the South Memphis Farmers Market.
 

United We Serve: Let’s Read. Let’s Move. is thrilled to partner with Catholic Charities. Catholic Charities USA is an organization that provides assistance to more than 8.5 million people annually who are in need - they explore all avenues to secure resources and supports to assist families in meeting their basic needs and moving beyond poverty.
 

Two years ago two residents of Shelton, Washington donated a large parcel of their property to the city. They wanted it to be called Catalyst Park in hopes that it would someday provide a place for the neighborhood to gather, play, and grow together. This year our local Food Bank Garden, which was housed at the County Fair Grounds, was eliminated due to the county’s budget issues. Our Shelton 4-Hers, together with Washington State University Master Gardeners, have partnered with our local Rotary Club, Kiwanis Club, Optimists, and the Food Bank to re-create the Food Bank Garden into the Catalyst Garden.
 

Hunger doesn’t take a break in the summer. The U. S. Department of Agriculture and Let's Read. Let's Move. will encourage America’s children to plant community gardens through the People’s Garden Initiative, and use volunteers to connect children with healthy foods and meals as part of the Summer Food Service Program. Toolkits provide individuals and organizations guidance on building community gardens and ways to volunteer to deliver meals to youth.
 

Eating Healthy -East Chicago" was developed specifically by Catholic Charities for families in East Chicago, Indiana, with young children who depend on food pantries for a regular portion of their diet. For these families there is often a problem with using food pantry food nutritiously. Some individuals have little knowledge of nutrition; others are unfamiliar with correct food preparation, or they don't have equipment with which to prepare nutritious meals. This program was developed after many clients of the Catholic Charities' Food Pantry in East Chicago expressed an interest in learning the basics of nutrition in order to provide healthy, well-balanced meals for their children.