By Katie Chung and Kyra Letsinger Goodman
While many understand the importance of access to fresh produce, most rarely stop to think about how it gets from farm to table. For the medical students in the Vanderbilt Educational Garden Initiative (VEGI), however, this understanding has empowered them to take matters literally into their own hands, growing and harvesting seasonal produce at Vanderbilt’s on-campus community garden and distributing it to Tennesseans in need
Beginning as a garden in East Nashville, VEGI originated as a way for students of all gardening levels to both help those in need and find a personal community passionate about learning new skills and serving others. VEGI treasurer G2 Danielle Liu says this is what motivated her to join the organization as a first-year student in 2020.
“I’ve just enjoyed gardening and planting for a long time, but I think the biggest part for me was getting to know people,” said Liu. “I found out about VEGI from an older friend in the medical school that was involved in it, and I got involved because I wanted to get to know the older students.”
Liu helped move VEGI to Vanderbilt’s campus in 2020, combining forces with the VU Community Garden, an undergraduate organization working at the campus garden(s) to further sustainability initiatives. By 2022, VEGI’s reach was growing rapidly with undergraduate and medical students working together to grow and deliver produce to Shade Tree Clinic, Vanderbilt’s medical-student run free clinic serving uninsured patients across middle Tennessee.
During his own clinical experience with Shade Tree, a rite of passage for most medical students, VEGI president M4 Christian Oakley quickly realized that the populations Shade Tree served needed far more than just medical care; about half of the patients at Shade Tree, he found, screened positive for food insecurity.
“You really do realize how profound food deserts are in Nashville, and how socioeconomic factors really can influence access and affordability of fresh produce,” Oakley explained. “Health in general is influenced by those factors, and seeing patients pick up our bag of fruit or cartons of vegetables, it makes you feel good, like you’re doing something larger than yourself.”
These realizations of community needs are supported with tangible change and accommodation of patients’ preferences, such as growing tomatillos for the clinic’s large Latinx patient population. This way, produce can be used in a way that feels natural and contributes to families’ daily meals, while also growing seasonal vegetables in the garden and minimizing leftover produce. Alongside distributing food to patients, medical students also support them by offering educational sessions on different food groups and the impact of exercise.
“A lot of our patients at Shade Tree are not super health literate; they just have not had those resources in their lives,” Liu said. “It’s been very impactful both to help provide that food and do a lot of dietary counseling for those patients.”
From Farm to Classroom to Community Table
In its pursuit to serve the greater Nashville community, VEGI has also served students in their academic endeavors. Bridging their coursework and service passions, VEGI members have taken Curriculum 2.0’s research opportunities as a chance to find new ways to innovate and expand their organization. When VEGI secretary M4 Lily He noticed some produce was being left untouched by Shade Tree patients, she began investigating ways to combat this food waste through her Quality Improvement project, a research requirement of the Curriculum 2.0 Immersion Phase. Through her research, He discovered new ways to minimize leftover produce and make produce more attractive to patients.
VEGI vice president M4 Russell Stewart was also inspired by his work with VEGI when conducting his QI project. Upon seeing feedback from Monroe Carrell Jr. Children’s Hospital patients and their families that showed difficulty accessing fresh produce, Stewart and fellow VEGI member M4 Elizabeth Sun began considering ways VEGI could help to combat this food insecurity.
With the support of Marie Holzer, MSW, program manager of VUMC’s Rooted Community Health Program, Stewart and Sun connected with agricultural co-ops and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms, creating partnerships to donate their surplus produce to patients at both Shade Tree Clinical and Monroe Carrell. After donating over 3,000 pounds of food in the last year, Stewart says the results show this intervention has made a major impact on the health of the climate and the community.
“We implemented the EAT-Lancet Guidelines to build a solution centered around equity and sustainability,” Stewart said. “Our data shows this program improves children’s dietary qualities and improves families’ overall satisfaction with their hospital admission. Clinicians must recognize that food insecurity and planetary health are actionable levers to prevent and mitigate some of our society’s chronic disease challenges.”
A Growing Space, Team, and Mission
As the need for VEGI’s services has grown, so has its infrastructure. Most recently, the community garden moved to the Peabody campus and received a major design upgrade thanks to the Vanderbilt Green Fund, given annually to student initiatives that promote university sustainability.
“It was placed in the undergraduate campus, which is the freshman campus, to hopefully inspire more students to get involved,” Oakley said. “The hope is it builds a greater sense of wellness and community around the garden.”
The centralization of the garden does not come a moment too soon; with coordinating new farming partnerships, serving additional populations, and a commitment to harvesting and transferring produce to clinics every Tuesday and Thursday, the group has developed a need for a larger team. He encourages any member of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine or greater Vanderbilt community to get involved and help further VEGI’s mission of combating food deserts and the consequent chronic disease epidemic by delivering fresh produce, giving practical education on the food system, and fostering a community allying medical students, undergraduates, food system nonprofits, and uninsured patients.
“We would love for any medical students or community members who would like to check out the garden or who are interested in food insecurity and/or planetary health to reach out and get involved,” He said. “VEGI has been such a highlight of my medical school experience, and I would love to encourage anyone who is thinking about it to come visit us at the garden or to reach out with any questions.”
For more information on ways to get involved with VEGI, visit their AnchorLink or check out their Instagram @VanderbiltVegi.