ST. LOUIS — “The ‘Take Care, Now’ campaign is totally focused on bringing healthy food and health care to rural communities,” says Jackie Applegate, President of North American Bayer Crop Science Division.
34 million Americans, including 9 million children, experience food insecurity. 90% of counties with the highest food insecurity rates are in rural communities. To combat these frightening numbers, Bayer, with the support of Kroger and Luke Byran, are launching their ‘Take Care, Now’ campaign. The plan of action hopes to alleviate care deserts in rural America that are suffering from food insecurity.
We as Bayer have worked with Feeding America for quite some time with our commitment today of an additional 1 million meals that we will be providing through Feeding America. We have committed a total of 7 million meals over the years,” says Sebastian Guth, President of Bayer United States.
Located in Decatur, Illinois, lies the Northeast Community Fund. Just one of the food pantries who shares that this campaign is changing lives.
Our goal is to help the neediest families here within our community,” says Paul Lidy, Director of Development and Fundraising at Northeast Community Fund. “And this helps us continue to further that goal by addressing food, hunger and insecurity, as well as that education component, that we also need to make sure that individuals are understanding how to come out of poverty and how to come out of these difficult situations.”
But it goes beyond nutrition, too. Rural communities represent nearly two thirds of primary care health professional shortage areas in the country. Over a third of the U.S. population lives in a county where there is less than adequate access to pharmacies, primary care providers, hospitals, trauma centers, and low-cost health centers. The Take Care Now campaign is partnering up with AgriSafe Network to sponsor 50 nurse scholars to be deployed across the country into these deserts! These nurses are trained specifically for these communities.
“It is so important,” says Charlotte Halverson, Clinical Director of AgriSafe Network. “It is so important because their generosity is allowing us to train 50 more nurses in rural agricultural communities. On the specifics of the exposures and the things that farmers and ranchers deal with every day, day in and day out, that we don't have an opportunity to teach in our university programs, in our nursing or medical school programs.”
Bayer is focused on health for all, and hunger for none. Many of their 20,000 colleagues live and work in rural communities, but also, it is these communities that provide for others across the nation. To raise awareness of the care deserts, Bayer and the Kroger Wellness Festival are hosting 6 Luke Bryan farm tour concerts this fall.
“Teaming up with Luke Bryan has been a big deal and continues to be a big deal because Luke Bryan is just an extraordinary individual and he has the ability to obviously bring attention to areas that deserve attention,” says Sebastian Guth, President of Bayer United States. “So it is great to know Luke Bryan is part of this initiative.”
For those who cannot attend one of the events, Bayer is encouraging supporters to visit their website and spread the word. by using the hashtag ‘here’s to the farmer.’ We can come together and shed light on a real need. To help feed those, who have always helped feed us.
Use the hashtag 'Here's to the Farmer' to raise awareness for those in rural communities. Visit Bayer's website here for more ways to support their cause.
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