Real Food Farm brings healthy, fresh food to Baltimore's poorest neighborhoods

Real Food Farm, a non-profit organization in Northeast Baltimore, works to improve access to healthy food in many of the poorest neighborhoods in the Charm City, which the natural products industry calls home every September for Natural Products Expo East. 

Boulder Brands, New Hope Natural Media and Presence Marketing have teamed up for a fundraiser at this year's Expo East to help Real Food Farm in this mission and to ensure that the natural products community leaves Baltimore a little bit stronger and healthier than it was before the show started.

You can participate by buying a sustainable Real Food Farm glass water bottle for $20 during the show. Every dollar of this purchase will go to Real Food Farm, and Boulder Brands and New Hope have each pledged $2,500 in matching donation dollars for a total of $5,000 in matching donations.

The Real Food Farm water bottles will be sold in the Boulder Brands booth (booth # 1623) and the New Hope booth (booth # 62) throughout the Expo. They will also be sold during the conference education session, "Food Access and the Role of the Natural Foods Industry," to be held 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 18 in room 316 of the Baltimore Convention Center; and during the Boulder Brands Better Breakfast, to be held 7:30 a.m.-9 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 19, on the Level 300 Outside Terrace of the convention center.

Shelley White, the program coordinator at Real Food Farm, says the Expo East donation dollars will be used to add 1.5 acres of urban farm land to the 6 acres the organization already farms in Baltimore's Clifton Park neighborhood. "The new 1.5 acres will allow us to grow more food so we can serve more community stops with our Mobile Farmers Market," White says.

The money will also be used to train the next generation of Baltimore urban farmers and pay for more youth education programs, including cooking and nutrition classes.

Want to learn more about Real Food Farm and it's work to bring healthy, fresh food to the people in Baltimore who need it most? Check out this gallery and the Real Food Farm website.