YMCA of Greater Boston’s youths harvest food at East Boston Y

BOSTON (July 2019) – This summer, more children at the YMCA of Greater Boston are planting and cultivating vegetables for a harvest of healthy food in the Farm2Future program as it expands to four branches in the region.

Farm2Future, funded in part by Popcorners, a Framingham-based company that makes better-for-you snacks using simple high quality ingredients started last summer at the Menino YMCA in Hyde Park and the East Boston YMCA and expands to the North Suburban YMCA in Woburn and Oak Square YMCA in Brighton this year.

“The YMCA of Greater Boston will serve approximately 300,000 meals at more than 80 locations this summer,” said James Morton, President and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Boston. “We are pleased to partner with PopCorners’ Farm2Future Program again this year and others to educate and support children in making healthy food choices in Boston.”

Boxes of seeds, tools, instructions, garden games and of course, healthy snacks, were supplied by PopCorners, and the program curriculum they’ve developed cleverly weaves in lessons on math, science, wellness, health, arts, and crafts while children excitedly tend to the plants. There are eight weeks of lesson plans, activities, exercises, journaling opportunities, games, worksheets, and readings included in this year’s program to showcase healthy eating with young members. Harvest celebrations will be announced later this summer at each of the branches.

The mission of the Farm2Future program is a social initiative to educate our future generation on the importance of understanding where your food comes from and how taking good care of yourself is the key to being your best self. Farm2Future inspires kids to Do One Better, a mantra created by PopCorners’ to inspire people to do one small thing every day to improve – whether that’s laugh a little harder, run a little farther, or snack a little better.

“This was really the inspiration for Farm2Future,” said Dan Morgan, president of PopCorners. “We want to create a movement for good where kids are inspired and educated on making better choices for themselves and for those around them. We believe that starts with fueling our bodies with foods that we feel great about.”

“We could not have asked for a better partner than the YMCA, who strives to improve health and empower youth and families,” said Morgan. “We’re thankful for their incredible teams who will be executing the Farm2Future program throughout the YMCA summer program and for the expansion of the program to the North Suburban and Oak Square locations, allowing us to reach even more young people this summer. With a shared vision and a mission to create a swell of positive impact, we hope to see this partnership continue to flourish along with the communities we touch.”