Anna Jaques Hospital Says Haverhill YMCA Freight Farm Helps Overcome ‘Food Deserts’

By Tim Coco

September 26, 2024

Mayor Melinda E. Barrett and YMCA Regional Executive Director Tracy Fuller outside the Freight Farm on its first birthday. (WHAV News photograph.)

The first birthday of Haverhill YMCA’s Freight Farm brought out staff, city officials and its primary sponsor for a birthday cake and, of course, salad made with the farm’s own lettuce.

Celebrating Wednesday at the Gateway Academy on Primrose Street, where the first YMCA Freight Farm in the country is located, were Mayor Melinda E. Barrett, YMCA Regional Executive Director Tracy Fuller, city councilors, community leaders and Glenn D. Focht, president of Anna Jaques Hospital, which sponsored the farm.

“Now, there’s a year’s worth of results to show that it can make a difference in the community where a lot of kids and families experience food insecurity or lack of access to healthy food. Parts of the city are food deserts when it comes to things like fruits and vegetables,” he said.

Focht explained why Anna Jaques’ parent company got involved. “For Beth Israel Lahey Health, we’re committed to investing in sort of upstream ways to promote health so that people aren’t developing illness because their diets are unhealthy.”

He noted the Freight Farm, located within a 40 by 8-foot shipping container, has generated more than 3,000 pounds of vegetables.

“If you can get a young person to like, and eat, vegetables and bring that into their own adulthood, that’s an intergenerational gift of good health,” he said.

Beth Israel, which also owns Anna Jaques Hospital of Newburyport and Haverhill Medical Offices, paid $165,000 for the farm, which covered its initial $150,000 expense and part of installation.