Community Nutritional Needs

Darius Stanton on campus.

Miranda Garcia grew up in Baltimore and wants to become a pulmonologist. Darius Stanton comes from Bowie, MD and wants to work as an international environmental activist. They both came together at CLAFLIN UNIVERSITY in Orangeburg, SC, where they became college ambassadors for GREEN FOR ALL.

Among their activities was doing a light audit on campus buildings and promoting environmental sustainability among fellow students. They also started their own program, Project H.E.A.L.T.H.Y. (Health Education And Learning To Help/Heal Yourself). Both students had observed that members of the community, who tended to be low-income were dependent upon quickie-type markets for their food needs. When you look at the types of foods available at those markets, you notice that fresh fruits and vegetables are missing. That has health implications for members of the community.

If you look demographically at the health issues within the families, you notice illnesses related to the types of food consumed, namely hypertension, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. Now, if you can educate and demonstrate new nutritional practices, you can also care for this community by stimulating change. That's just what Miranda and Darius decided to do.



So, they began to provide a series of organic gardening workshops geared to the Orangeburg and Claflin University community through a platform that addressed such topics as health issues in communities of color, eating habits, community sustainability, saving money while engaged in healthy behaviors, etc. Also included was the concept of organic gardening.

Since both Miranda and Darius have moved on, what has been left at Claflin from what they started? Well, Claflin continues to be highly involved with issues of sustainability. The university has been recognized as one of the top ten green historically black colleges. The university president also has signed the American College And University President's Climate Commitment. All because some students lived that commitment.

Green For All College Ambassador training.

Thanks to information from this article by Pollination Project: https://thepollinationproject.org/grants-awarded/darius-stanton-miranda-garcia-project-h-e-l-t-h-y-health-education-learning-helpheal/, and this bio from Green For All: http://gfa.fchq.ca/programs/college-ambassador-program/where-are-they-now/claflin-university/.

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