Wisdom and Cherie Jzar own and operate Deep Roots CPS Farm, a seven-acre farm in northwest Charlotte that grows produce and raises goats, chickens and two curious horses.
Major, one of the horses, milled around. A mobile chicken house sat at his feet, where young chickens flapped and clucked. He stomped a hoof impatiently at Cherie Jzar wanting a treat.
This past summer, 30 students ages 8 to 18 attended summer camp here to learn, among other things, how to take care of Major. Cherie Jzar offered Major a mint-flavored biscuit.
“[The students] had never ridden a horse, never touched a horse,” Cherie Jzar said. “So, we taught them all about the different aspects of Major’s body.”
Tuition for the students was funded in part by a $10,000 grant from the Aetna Foundation. In addition to tending to a biscuit-loving Major, they also planted seeds, picked vegetables and helped pack produce.
“The first day, it was basically children picking everything green off of their plates,” said Wisdom Jzar. “But by the third day, they were so into it because they had seen it.”
What the students had seen was how vegetables go from seed to plant and finally something they recognized at the grocery store. On the last day of summer camp, the students gave their families a tour of the farm to show what they had learned.
“The idea was, how do we do something that goes from the beginning — seed all the way to the table,” said Nick Duran, lead director of Medicaid business strategy and health policy at Aetna Better Health.
The Uptown Farmers Market and CW Williams Community Health Center also received a total of $30,000 to help people purchase and prepare local produce. This is the first time Aetna has provided a series of grants like this.
About 12% of households in Mecklenburg County lack sufficient access to food, according to nonprofit Feeding America. The Uptown Farmers Market, which already participates in the SNAP Double Bucks Program, will host a Triple Bucks Day on Sept. 21 with the Aetna funding. The farmers market will match eligible purchases up to two times for food-assistance beneficiaries.
“If you don’t have access to food, if you don’t have a roof over your head … Those are largely determinative of the overall health of that particular person,” Duran said.
