Close your eyes and use your imagination with me …
Close your eyes and imagine with me...
Imagine you’re Tanya, a mother of four raising your children by yourself on an income around $21,000 per year. You have four mouths to feed on this salary, but when you walk outside your door, your options for healthy choices are few and far between: carry-out, fast food or a grocery store that’s either too far away or doesn’t cater to your needs.
Grease coats the inch-thick glass at the carryout window where wings and fried rice are cheaper than a bunch of bananas.
The smell of salty French fries wafts past, so it’s either enough fries for the family or half a bag of potatoes that only feeds a few. Or you travel to a grocery store – with poor quality produce and half-stocked shelves – on public transit and you have to not only afford travel for yourself, but all of your children. No one is there to babysit and you have to haul food for the family on a bus or train, or worse, pay an exorbitant cab fare.
You can close the gap for people like Tanya when you support Dreaming Out Loud…
We founded our farmers market and holistic health experience, Aya Community Markets, to help people like Tanya. At our market we provide twice as many fresh fruits and vegetables for people receiving government assistance through our “double your dollars program.”
And our markets also serve as gateways to community resources that low-income families need to get healthy and stay healthy. Our holistic approach includes experiential education, outreach and empowerment via chef demonstrations and nutritional programs. Local medical schools even help us to conduct screenings for diabetes, glaucoma, blood pressure and body mass index.
With your donation, Dreaming Out Loud can continue to make a difference through Aya Community Markets by engaging youth, positively impacting community health and by bringing greater access to fresh fruits and vegetables to people like Tanya. Together we can turn lives and communities around.
Sincerely,
Chris Bradshaw, Executive Director
Download Tanya‘s story now, or learn about Darryl‘s achievement. And please tell a friend.
