By Skylar Botehlo
Farm Fresh RI is always on the lookout for partnerships that align with our mission to reduce food waste and increase food access for those in need. One of our latest partnerships is with the Obstetrics and Gynecology Center (OGCC) at Women & Infants Hospital, where our Hope’s Harvest team has been able to provide fresh, nutritious produce to families in the CenteringPregnancy Program. Since June 2024, we’ve donated 1,024 pounds of food to their Grab-and-Go fridge, helping around 7-10 families each month.
The CenteringPregnancy Program, launched in the spring of 2023, is a groundbreaking prenatal care model. With the help of a philanthropic grant secured by Eliabeth “Liz” Howard CNM, OGCC became the first prenatal clinic in Rhode Island to offer this unique approach.
Ana Sofia, the CenteringPregnancy Coordinator, explained the origins of the program. “CenteringPregnancy was pioneered by midwife Sharon Schindler Rising in the early 1990s. It combines routine prenatal care with additional education and support, with a focus on empowering patients.” Through the 2-hour group sessions, participants have the opportunity to learn together, share experiences, and even take on self-care activities, like monitoring their own vital signs. The program’s holistic approach has been shown to reduce the rates of preterm birth and low birth weight while increasing breastfeeding rates.
“What makes this program special,” Ana Sofia shared, “is how it centers patients in a way that re-empowers them. We use a shared learning model, which means the group works together, exchanging knowledge and making decisions collaboratively.”
The CenteringPregnancy team saw a natural connection between their work and the importance of food in prenatal care, which is what led Ana Sofia to reach out to Hope’s Harvest: “We know that food plays an important role in health, especially during pregnancy. Many of our patients struggle with food insecurity, and we’ve seen that conditions like anemia, which are common during pregnancy, can often be addressed with a balanced diet.”
This realization spurred the team to contact Hope’s Harvest in an effort to support their patients’ nutrition. “The generosity of Hope’s Harvest has been amazing. Our patients now receive fresh produce regularly, and they look forward to their bags of fruits and vegetables every time they return for a session,” Ana Sofia said. These fresh vegetables help patients maintain a well-rounded diet that supports their health and the health of their babies. “Many patients weren’t familiar with how to cook certain vegetables, like squash, but with a little guidance, they’ve embraced it. Knowing that food isn’t just available, but that it’s nutritious and free, really takes a weight off their shoulders.”
Beyond the fresh produce, the program recently received another exciting boost. Thanks to a collaboration with Feast and Fettle, the CenteringPregnancy Program now has a donated fridge, which allows them to store food safely and distribute it more evenly across their groups. “Before the fridge, we had to give large quantities of food to one group because we didn’t have anywhere to store it for the next session,” Ana Sofia explained. “Now, we can properly divide the food and ensure that all our patients get what they need.”
The CenteringPregnancy Program has exciting plans ahead. In early 2025, they hope to launch their Spanish-language group sessions to better serve their diverse patient population. Ana Sofia, who grew up in Rhode Island after immigrating from Cabo Verde, emphasized how rewarding it is to give back to her community. “I grew up here, and working in Rhode Island allows me to give back. CenteringPregnancy brings so much community and connection to prenatal care, and I knew I had to be part of it.” CenteringPregnancy recently started partnering with the NICU to share any extra produce that their patients cannot use.
Farm Fresh RI is thrilled to be part of their journey and looks forward to continuing to support their efforts to provide holistic, empowering care to families in Rhode Island.
If you’d like to support the CenteringPregnancy Program, you can reach out to Ana Sofia at abarberdebrito@wihri.org to learn how you can get involved.