NORFOLK, Va. - The Five Points Community Farm Market is receiving a $40,000 grant to build a community kitchen from Bon Secours.
Cooking fresh, organic and locally grown produce will soon be available to families of every income level in Hampton Roads.
"It's all about access and it's all about knowledge," said Bev Sell, the founder of Five Points Community Farm Market. "We have an epidemic of poor health here, we've got to solve that and we want to be part of the solution, not the problem."
Through the Passport to Health Program from Bon Secours, people can learn to cook with ingredients from the market.
"We'll have classes for teenagers so they can learn how to cook because making their food choices and buying choices and we want to be able to reach them," said Sell.
The kitchen will help small business owners too. There's already a waiting list to use the kitchen to make things including hummus, right in the middle of Norfolk.
"It's very expensive and hard to find a place you can mass produce. So I`m really grateful to have this kitchen and this opportunity," said Khadija Essaadi, the owner of Khadija Moroccan Cuisine. Essaadi said she would have to leave Hampton Roads and break her bank to find a kitchen where she could produce her product.
It will be at least a month before the 375 square-feet kitchen is fired up. Seller believes it will be part of the solution to a healthier Hampton Roads.
"I think people once they realize the health issues, the diabetes, the heart disease, the consequences, that's what's going to make them turn that corner and decide to be healthy," said Sell.
Find a Farmers Market in Hampton Roads for Locally-Grown Fruit and Veggies
