BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — For many in the African American community, healthy foods and doctors are not easy to access. Several organizations, met with the community to discuss all things health-related.

Ella Lawrence is a 67-year-old woman who lives near Zion City. “It’s very important that they bring this kind of event to other neighborhoods,” she explained.

She said she’s in decent health for her age but has to drive all the way to Oschner for her routine check-ups. “It’s quite a distance,” she described.

Lawrence considers herself lucky because she has transportation to get to her doctor’s office, but for her friends, it’s a different story. “Unlike myself, they can’t afford to go to the doctor, they don’t have transportation to the doctor. So this is very good for them.”

Pastor John Borks joined with other organizations, to bring health resources, to those in need.

“This just gives people access to stuff that they wouldn’t normally get,” Borks said. A master gardener agreed, “We’ve got food deserts all over our city. We also know that there are thousands of people who have no car or are older and have stopped driving.”

Community members were able to get routine check-ups, learn about preparing healthy meals, and plant their own gardens. “You don’t have to have farmland to plant the kinds of things we like to eat so much, tomatoes, beans, bell peppers, and okra,” explained Susan Hymel, Master Gardner. Lawrence followed by saying, “They gave us some samples that we can go home and plant and that was very good because I live outside.”

Pastor Borks said their goal is to have more events like this monthly.