Central Florida volunteers connect families with education on healthy eating
Advertisement
Updated: 10:08 AM EDT Aug 20, 2026Editorial Standards ⓘ
Nancy Alvarez
Anchor
Central Florida volunteers connect families with education on healthy eating
Updated: 10:08 AM EDT Aug 20, 2026Editorial Standards ⓘ
Nancy Alvarez
Anchor
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. —
Brad Jones and Erin Turner are bringing gardening and food education to the Florida Department of Health in Orange County, creating opportunities for families to connect with fresh produce and healthy eating
Jones explained the peanut-growing process, saying, “These are looking for the ground to bury, and once they get buried, they start to form little peanuts on the end of them.”
Advertisement
He demonstrated the harvest, adding, “So if I pull this plant out, look at all these peanuts!”
The peanut harvest is one of many surprises this volunteer duo offers at the health department, where they have transformed the landscape into a thriving garden
“A lot of healthcare settings really have not embraced the opportunity of what they could do with their landscape,” Jones said. “Making the landscape part of the mission is what I’m interested in.”
For Jones and Turner, their work is driven by passion
“One of the best parts is seeing people’s reaction when they come up,” Turner said. “They’re like, ‘Oh, wow,’ like, ‘Wow, look at those bananas!'”
Jones, a retired Orlando firefighter, now focuses on food education, tending to the garden and engaging with staff and visitors
“I’ve seen parents come out and say, ‘Oh, my kid doesn’t like carrots. We don’t want to do that,'” Jones said. “And I’m like, are you sure? Because I’ve had kids pull it out and then just eat it right on the ground, and there’s a lot of kids who are not getting that experience.”
Turner complements the gardening efforts with cooking classes, using ingredients from the health department’s food pantry
“We are using really simple ingredients,” Turner said. “And then I’ll just say, like, this is inexpensive. Here’s what you can get. And so, it does not have to be expensive. And that is really part of the message.”
Education is central to their mission, even extending to the compost pile outside the building
“I’m not going to put this in the dumpster because there’s all kinds of nutrients still in this,” Jones said. “All kinds of structure I want to put back into the garden.”
Through their efforts, Jones and Turner are making a difference for families, one bloom and one recipe at a time
“This place is really showing me how important it is to think about what are we doing as a community,” Jones said. “I had 50 kids pull carrots. Is that going to change the world? I don’t know, but it’s going to change that kid’s perspective on carrots.”
Make WESH a preferred source on Google
Add Preferred Source
