 "Photo: Yen-Fan Lin | Chronicle photo")
You may have noticed a new vendor on campus last week, or that the people in your class were eating a banana instead of scarfing down Cheetos.
Last Wednesday was the debut of the “Coyote Produce Stand,” CSUSB’s own little farmer’s market. I decided to check it out.
One of the people who came up with the idea for the stand, Frank Becerra, said that nurses and doctors in the Health Center were noticing a lot of students with food security issues. Many weren’t eating a balanced diet, and others who were given a prescription by the Center would decide not to purchase the medicine because they planned to spend the money on food.
“One of the ideas that we came up with was having a farmer’s market type of event on campus, because it would provide healthier food choices,” Becerra said.
Health Educator Carlos Carrio of the Health Center pointed out that March is National Nutrition Month, so along with providing students with information about healthy eating this month, they also initiated the Produce Stand that will be on campus every Wednesday between 8:30am-1:00pm.
The same stand will be operating from 3:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Wednesdays on the Palm Desert Campus.
I saw lots of students milling around the stand Wednesday. To promote the stand and help students with cost, the Health Center provided coupons for the stand to many students on campus.
Students can still pick up two-dollar coupons for the Stand at the Student Health Center until they run out.
“I knew about it from the CSUSB website and took a coupon from the Health Center. I am glad because it is cheap food and good for promoting healthy eating,” one student customer said.
“It was a big hit today," Carrio said of the stand’s first day. “Students love it and a lot of staff are coming to buy.”
The Stand is operated by John Nayler and his family who own DMC, a fresh foods wholesale company. The company provides fresh fruits and vegetable to convenience stores and other businesses. They get their products from different farmer markets in states like Californian and Washington.
Nayler said he enjoyed his first day bringing fresh food to CSUSB students and giving them an opportunity to make healthier choices.
“During the first couple of weeks of promotion, we are trying to get as many people to come over here as possible,” Becerra said.
All of the individuals and organizations involved in bringing the stand to campus in hope that students will embrace it so that it can stay and become a permanent fixture at CSUSB.
“Basically, if it goes well, we will keep it and have even more to offer,” Nayler said.
For me, it is exciting to see that there is a stand here focusing on providing healthy and fresh food because I love eating fruits and vegetables.
Most students on campus aren’t getting their recommended daily amounts of fruits and vegetables. If you’d like to make it a bit easier and less expensive to eat healthy on campus, make sure you stop by the Coyote Produce Stand on Wednesdays.
I’ll see you there!
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