- Conetoe was a food desert.
But I wanted to do somethin' about it.
We began to grow, and we began
to put our hearts and hands together,
and Conetoe is no longer a food desert.
Conetoe is a food oasis.
(piano music)
I'm Reverend Richard R. Joyner,
founder of Conetoe Family Life Center.
Conetoe is a rural area
in the eastern part of North Carolina.
Population of about 300 people.
A food desert really means that the residents here
do not have access to fresh, locally affordable grown foods.
We would buy most of our food from discount stores,
which are high in sodium, calories,
very low in nutritional values.
People had these early stages of chronic disease,
diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes,
and even mental illness because of the stress and the pain.
People were dyin' in their 30s and 40s.
We would be havin' two to three funerals a month
and really devastating families.
(engine rumbling)
I was really feelin' overwhelmed, and feelin' hopeless,
because I couldn't stop this chronic disease.
I pulled on the side of the road
and really started praying,
wanting to know what could I do.
And I had this epiphany of open your eyes, look around.
And I'd open my eyes, and all I saw was fields.
(piano music)
So, we started our first small garden.
And now we're up to 21 acres of farmland.
We have about eight people
that are parents and grandparents of our youth,
that work here every day.
We have 40 students durin' the summer that use this farm
for their readin', writin', math and science
and for food.
Presently on our farm, we have blueberries, tomatoes;
we have collards; we have squash; we have zucchini.
We end up averaging 100 pounds of food per week
out of the garden.
Food that we grow has had a tangible impact
upon our community.
We're able to put food on people's tables.
Hello, I have your vegetables. - Hello, Reverend Joyner.
- [Richard] All right, our community is spending $4,000
less a month on prescription pills, because the food--
- The deaths have slowed down;
we're not havin' as many funerals.
I feel like we are makin' a difference.
I love this community here because we're unitin'
around savin' lives together.
(acoustic guitar music)
(electronic music)