Buffalo Food Farmacy helps bring nutritious options to those in need

Outside a colorful mural on a building, a white sign made of capital letters reads “FARMACY.” Clusters of green balloons surround it. Gentle marimba and piano music play in the background.

On the side of a truck painted with fruit and vegetables, white text reads “fresh food farm market on the move.” The other side of the truck opens up like a produce stand, with crates of fresh fruit and vegetables lined up for customers.

A blonde woman speaks into a microphone near the Farmacy sign, and a blue banner appears beneath her with white text inside:

ONSCREEN TEXT:        Joyce Markiewicz
                                      Executive Vice President & Chief Business

Development Officer, Catholic Health

JOYCE MARKIEWICZ: We know that when individuals make better food choices, health outcomes improve and the risk of developing certain medical conditions is lowered.

Green beans, spinach, green peppers and sweet potatoes pile high inside the crates. In an industrial kitchen, a crowd gathers while a chef demonstrates. A woman in a bright green shirt speaks in front of the green balloons, with a blue banner beneath her:  

ONSCREEN TEXT:        Kathryn Heidinger
                                     Director of Development, Catholic Health

KATHRYN HEIDINGER: Food Farmacy offers free, fresh food to the community, access to a registered dietician, and education and cooking classes.

White text on a green wall reads “D’Lish.” Beneath the wall, a screen shows an overhead view of the chef preparing food in the kitchen. Now he selects produce from the truck outside, holding a melon and a pineapple.  

JOYCE MARKIEWICZ: An integral part of this program was the ability to address the need for fresh access to fresh food—which is often the first and most critical step toward good health.

Now a man with glasses speaks near a wall of windows. A blue banner with white text shows his name and designation:

ONSCREEN TEXT:        Junior Harewood

                                      UnitedHealthcare CEO, E&I, New York

JUNIOR HAREWOOD: Twenty percent of what happens in healthcare happens within kind of that office—doctor’s office setting. But there’s a whole eighty percent of it that happens outside, and a big portion of that is around food. And we understand that, you know, food is medicine.

Wearing a brown ball cap, the chef supervises people slicing chicken and peppers at cutting boards. Outside, people in a white tent unwrap a stack of cardboard boxes. People at a table with chafing dishes ladle food into takeout containers.

JOYCE MARKIEWICZ: I’m proud to report that over the last eighteen months, the Food Farmacy has provided 58 416 pounds of food to 1098 members of this community.

A crowd claps. Now a man in a black ball cap speaks into the microphone. A blue banner in the lower left of the view appears with white text inside:

ONSCREEN TEXT:        Dion Dawkins
                                      Buffalo Bills

DION DAWKINS: You know, you have to be healthy to play football; you have to be healthy to smile and be happy and give off positive energy. And what they do is something that I choose to do every day of my life, and I just choose to make people smile. And if health is going to make you smile, and if health is going to keep a smile on your face longer, why not? 

The view fades to a white background with the blue UnitedHealthcare logo: a U with three stripes on the right-hand. arm. As the music fades, the logo transforms into blue text in the center of the white background:

ONSCREEN TEXT:        United
                                      Healthcare