Nourish to Flourish: A Gathering on Local Food, Health, and Community
About this Event
Nourish to Flourish: A Gathering on Local Food, Health, and Community
Date and Time: September 14-15, 2026 beginning at 10:00 AM (Eastern Time)
Venue: Eastern AHEC - 2600 W Arlington Blvd., Greenville, NC
Healthy food makes communities stronger, and funders and health systems are coming around to what we have known all along: the best solutions are locally rooted. That's opening real opportunities for rural, community-rooted organizations and local food to play a role in this ‘Food is Medicine’ movement.
Join us for Nourish to Flourish, a two-day gathering for the people and organizations at the forefront of food access and health across rural North Carolina. Together we'll make the case that local food and community-based organizations are the missing ingredient in Food is Medicine, connect your work to the wider Food is Medicine movement, and showcase ideas and resources that can deepen your impacts even further. Whether you're partnering with a clinic on Produce Prescriptions or looking to grow healthy offerings at your food pantry, there's a place for you at the Food is Medicine table!
Target audience: Rural, community-based organizations working at the intersection of local food and health across North Carolina. This includes faith-based groups, food access and hunger organizations, gardens, grower programs, and food hubs, along with their health system and funding partners.
Goals:
- Help community groups see their everyday work as contributing to “Food is Medicine”
- Show why local food belongs in health programming and help partners build it into their work
- Give partners practical, flexible tools and programs for higher-impact programming, and tools to evaluate success
- Increase awareness of and prepare partners to pursue funding, advocacy, and partnership opportunities related to Food is Medicine
Capacity - no more than 3 from each organization
Agenda
Nourish to Flourish: A Gathering on Local Food, Health, and Community
🕑: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
DAY 1 - Registration and Welcome
🕑: 11:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Intros & Overview
🕑: 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Your Food Story Activity
🕑: 12:15 PM - 01:15 PM
Lunch - Dinning Hall
🕑: 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM
Funder Panel: Food is Medicine
🕑: 02:30 PM - 03:15 PM
Networking Activity: Uncover the “what” and the “who” behind Food is Medicine
🕑: 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Breakout Sessions (choose 1)
Info: Local Food Programming & Promotion; Connecting the Dots: learn from a proven rural FiM model how to piece together key partners and resources; Tools for Collaboration: how churches work together to improve community health outcomes
🕑: 05:00 PM - 06:15 PM
Break
🕑: 06:15 PM - 07:15 PM
Dinner - Dining Hall
🕑: 08:15 AM - 09:00 AM
Day 2 - Breakfast - Dinning Hall
🕑: 09:15 AM - 09:50 AM
Welcome & Activity
🕑: 09:50 AM - 10:30 AM
Making the Case for Local Food & Food is Medicine
🕑: 10:45 AM - 12:20 PM
See It in Action
Info: Try out three methods to deepen FiM evaluation, nutrition education, and local food distribution. Evaluation in FiM, The Receipe for Success: Interactive Nutrition Programs that Work, and Healthy Meal Kits & Local Sourcing.
🕑: 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Lunch - Dinning Hall
🕑: 01:45 PM - 02:15 PM
Closing Session & Quilt Giveaway
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 50.00 to USD 85.00
