• By Katelyn Hiatt
• Posted Tuesday, August 6, 2024

Forsyth County Gains Eighth Healthy Corner Store

There are now eight Certified Healthy Corner Stores in Forsyth County. These stores are located in food deserts and allow residents to have access to healthy, affordable foods. The participating stores also receive free produce from Take What You Need, a program that involves a community garden that donates all food it produces. The produce is then distributed to the Certified Healthy Stores' customers for free.

Food deserts are areas where it is difficult to access and/or affordably purchase healthy foods. Many people located in food deserts are of a lower socioeconomic status and don't have access to a vehicle to drive to a grocery store. They are then forced to visit local convenience or corner stores for food. These stores don't often offer healthy foods, resulting in residents eating a lot of processed and low-health foods. This poor diet contributes to the burden of chronic diseases including but not limited to hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. According to the 2018 Food Research and Action Center report, Winston-Salem has 21 food deserts and is ranked 7th on the national list for food hardship.

Katie Hiatt leads the Healthy Communities program within the Health Promotion Disease Prevention team at the Forsyth County Department of Public Health. She is passionate about equal access to healthy foods in all communities, so she restarted the Forsyth County Healthy Corner Store Network.

The initiative works by credentialing stores that agree to carry healthy food items. To be a "Certified Healthy Store," a store must carry a variety of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, proteins, low-fat or skim milk, and bottled water. The store must stock a variety of three to four products within each category at all times. The items must also have a reduced amount of sodium or sugar if they are in a packaged form. Once the store carries all required products, Katie applies the store to Eat Smart Move More NC. Stores that are approved will then receive a certificate and door sticker that they may display on the property. In order to be considered for the Healthy Corner Store designation, a store must be located within a food desert, accept WIC and SNAP/EBT, and be under 3,000 square feet.

Katie Johnson and Alex Gillis (a teammate who focuses on nutrition and gardening for youth) maintain four large garden beds located at Simon's Community Garden at the Enterprise Center on South Martin Luther King Drive. The beds house a variety of plants including tomatoes, eggplants, okra, bell peppers, cantaloupe, and jalapenos. Katie and Alex originally had a goal of harvesting 300 pounds of produce by May 2025 but have already harvested and donated 350 pounds worth of produce as of August 2024.

The donation of this free produce to stores within food deserts in Winston-Salem allows residents to have increased access to fresh, nutritious food. Citizens don't have to worry about wasting their money on a new vegetable they may or may not like, which often deters them from trying something new. Storeowners have decided to help with this mission by moving some of their own surplus produce into the free basket as well. Katie and Alex hope that this initiative will increase healthy habits of Winston-Salem food desert residents and reduce the burden of chronic disease. Healthy Communities received certification for one more Healthy Corner Store in July 2024. The store is named Titi’s Convenience Store and is located at 1524 Bruce Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27102. The addition of this new store brings the total of Certified Healthy Stores in Forsyth County to eight. If you are interested in volunteering in the community garden this coming Fall or you are a storeowner interested in the program, please email Katie at hiattkj@forsyth.cc.

Visit the Healthy Communities page to see all Healthy Corner Stores and additional information: https://forsyth.cc/HHS/healthy_communities.aspx