Everyone's Harvest's mission is to provide access to healthy, affordable fruits and vegetables through certified farmers’ markets and community food programs.
Everyone's Harvest (EH) catalyzes "Food is Medicine” programs in Monterey County, providing local produce to people from low-income backgrounds experiencing nutrition insecurity. FreshRx partners with physicians to provide weekly produce prescriptions at farmers’ markets in Salinas, Marina, Pacific Grove, Seaside, and Castroville–taking Food is Medicine from theory to practice. The program allows doctors to prescribe fruits and vegetables to patients who need it most, thereby providing local produce to nutrition-insecure families, improving health outcomes, potentially reducing long-term healthcare costs, and supporting local farmers. The EH model of integrating food and nutrition interventions into preventive healthcare contributed to Medi-Cal health insurance accepting FreshRx as medically supportive food. FreshRx has expanded from a seasonal to a year-round program, and EH’s complementary programs–Market Match, Edible Education, and Farms Together–have improved with increased match amounts for CalFresh families, new nutrition education programming, and new box distribution locations, respectively, improving health with locally grown produce.
Everyone's Harvest introduced “Food is Medicine” to Monterey County, a model of integrating food and nutrition interventions into preventive healthcare that was embraced in 2024 by the regional Medi-Cal managed care health plan. Our community food programs and farmers’ markets serve everyone, especially families without sufficient income for basic needs, in Salinas, Marina, Pacific Grove, Seaside, and Castroville. Partnerships with healthcare providers to provide FreshRx and operate farmers’ markets at two hospitals (Natividad and Salinas Valley Health), at the Salinas WIC office, and in Castroville through a collaboration with CSVS and North County Recreation and Park District extend our impact. FreshRx, Market Match, Edible Education, and Farms Together serve hundreds of local families and certified farmers’ markets sustain access to fresh, local produce for over 2,500 weekly customers. Each year, we help over 6,000 Monterey County families to access locally grown fruits and vegetables from small-scale family farmers.
...We are really happy that we have the chance to participate in this amazing program [FreshRx]. It motivates us to live a healthier lifestyle. I hope that next year we have the opportunity to participate in this program again.
- Alma Valdez, Salinas
