“UT has hundreds of unique organizations for anything that students are interested in. When I initially discovered KS WELI, I was inspired by everything that it stood for and wanted to somehow get involved. After taking two sponsored courses, attending Women’s Summit, and discovering the FoundHER program, I’ve been in awe of the extremely driven, supportive, and empowering group of women that I’ve been lucky enough to cross paths with and learn from.”
Christeen Nguyen, Class of 2023
About the FoundHER(s)
I’ve always been really interested in Blue Zones. The whole idea of it is fascinating to me – the way that the people in these communities live, eat, and interact with one another is something that I’ve been inspired by. When the Netflix docuseries “Live to 100” was released, I was eager to learn more about centenarians and how they went about their daily life. One of the main lifestyle factors that contributed to their longevity was, of course, diet. We’ve learned that centenarians are more likely to eat fresh produce and cook at home. I wanted to translate the eating habits of these long-living people into places where I knew were deficient in fresh foods – a place that I am very familiar with – college towns. From there, I came up with a way to diminish the scarcity of healthy foods and hopefully turn these college towns and their surrounding areas into certified Blue Zones.
About the Company
There are Blue Zones across the globe where people consistently live to 100 years old. The most prominent lifestyle factors that characterize Blue Zones are a healthy diet, daily physical activity, and a sense of community. In America, ultra-processed foods are much more common than whole, nutritious foods. Furthermore, college campuses are one of the most densely populated areas in a city, yet are considered food deserts because farm-fresh produce is limited and not readily available, or is sold at an unaffordable price. Thus, students are more susceptible to eating cheap fast food rather than opting for nutritious meals due to a lack of accessible and affordable farm-fresh produce.
Farm-to-Blue-Truck resolves this issue by providing a place on campuses that readily supplies fresh kitchen staples. Being a combination of a grocery store and farmers market within one truck, convenience is met for students who don’t have a car to drive or simply don’t have the time to drive to their local grocer or market. The produce will be sourced straight from campus gardens where weekly volunteers will come to plant and harvest the crops. This volunteering and gardening aspect of Farm-to-Blue-Truck promotes community-building and daily physical movement, which taps into the other key aspects of established Blue Zones. This market will eventually be expanded to college campuses across the nation.
With Farm-to-Blue-Truck, encouraging students to buy locally sourced and community-harvested produce will create long term healthy habits, which will translate into building a Blue Zone-certified community.
Farm to Truck
Industry
Health & Wellness
Mission
Farm-to-Blue-Truck aims to bring accessible, affordable, farm-fresh produce into the hands of students by providing a market where college students can purchase seasonal fruits and vegetables in the heart of their campus. By equipping college students with convenient and budget-friendly produce, and promoting daily physical movement and community-building through weekly garden volunteering, we can follow in the footsteps of established Blue Zones and encourage a healthy and more sustainable way of living.
We are on a mission to transform the notorious food deserts of college towns into certified Blue Zone communities where healthy living is sustainable and attainable.
Year Founded
2023
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