Jackson seniors receive free produce meal service thanks to RIFA, JHA and local farm

The break in the storms on Wednesday came at just the right time, as members of the Regional Inter-Faith Association (RIFA) and the Jackson Housing Authority drove through Rosewood Gardens and Allen Senior Community in Jackson to deliver free, fresh produce to seniors.

RIFA’s truck, loaded down with 100 bags of fresh food, made stops at each home in the neighborhood to bring fresh vegetables and produce to each senior’s door, as RIFA Assistant Director Shaun Powers looked on.

“We’re excited about this,” he said, gesturing to the workers as they went from door to door. “This is our first distribution of the spring season, and we’re seeing really great reception.”

The organization piloted a similar program last year that saw them serve 48 residents at the Centennial Pass community—and this year, they’re ready to expand it.

“RIFA fights food insecurity,” Powers explained. “We’ve seen with senior adults that transportation is a barrier that causes food insecurity, so we’re fighting food insecurity by fighting that transportation barrier—delivering fresh produce boxes to the senior adults here. We’ll do this every other week through spring, summer and hopefully fall.”

The bags are courtesy of a partnership with local farm Falcon Ridge, which worked with RIFA last year as well.

“It’s a bag full of fresh vegetables and produce, and the great thing is that seniors aren’t having to leave their houses, they aren’t having to fight traffic, take the bypass or walk in the store to get this,” Powers said. “When you stop and think about it, a steady diet of fresh fruits and produce and vegetables will certainly impact your health for the positive.

“It’s locally grown. You think about these efforts—it doesn’t just help the senior adults who are getting these foods. We’re also supporting a local vegetable produce farmer as well.”

RIFA and JHA made sure to “clear every obstacle” to get the food, according to Powers—residents didn’t even have to sign up. Now, residents of both Rosewood Gardens and Centennial Pass will receive bags of fresh produce every other week, right on their doorstep.

Powers has also seen that simply stopping to talk to seniors when delivering the food makes a huge difference.

“The other side benefit is having the seniors who are socially isolated—having someone knock on their door is really nice for them,” he said. “What we’ve seen over our time here—at first people might be hesitant to come to the door, but as they get used to the schedule and rotation, a lot of time people are waiting at their door to receive their bags. So there’s a sense of community as well.”

Indeed, as workers made their way around the community, residents could be seen waiting on front porches, waving to workers and even bartering certain vegetables out of their bags with other neighbors.

Alberta Northern, a resident of Rosewood, stood proudly with her bag of vegetables as she spoke with reporters.

“I’m really grateful—it’s a good thing,” she said. “I really do appreciate the help. I really do think this is good for the community and I just want to thank whoever organized this for everybody.”

Although it was Northern’s first time receiving the bag, she already had some recipes in mind.

“I love greens!” she laughed. “I could eat them just about every Sunday. They’re really good.”

Powers says this feeling of community helps support elderly residents, particularly in the face of recent inflation.

“In the research that we’ve done, most senior adults that are on a fixed income,” he said. “Their income often stays the same. When there’s inflation in food process, everything costs significantly more. So that causes a problem. Senior adults usually choose to take care of someone else before they take care of themselves, and that shouldn’t be a choice.

“There’s plenty of food to be had. We want to help provide food to improve their diets, improve their wellbeing, and fight those rising costs.”

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For seniors—or anyone struggling with food insecurity—Powers says RIFA is ready to help. Although these produce bags are specifically targeting the Rosewood and Centennial communities currently, RIFA services are open Monday through Friday at 133 Airways Blvd., and the RIFA Soup Kitchen is open seven days a week.

Seniors in these two communities, however, do not need to apply or contact anyone for food—simply be ready to hear a knock at your front door.

“RIFA exists to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ,” Powers said. “And we can’t do that without helping our neighbors. An easy way to take care of our neighbors is to deliver food directly to their doorstep. There’s an abundance of food in the world, there’s an abundance of food in the economy. And the struggle is simply getting that excess food to the people who need it.

“So that’s what RIFA does. We take that food and get it to the hands and mouths of people who need it. And in this case, delivering it to senior adults.”

Have a story to tell? Reach Angele Latham by email at alatham@gannett.com, by phone at 731-343-5212, or follow her on Twitter at @angele_latham.

This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: Jackson seniors receive free produce meal service thanks to RIFA, JHA and local farm