NAACP hosts first Food Is Medicine Produce Fair in Albuquerque

Boxes of fresh produce, cooking demonstrations and nutrition lessons filled Phil Chacon Park as the NAACP Albuquerque Branch held its first annual Food Is Medicine Produce Fair. The free event brought together the Albuquerque NAACP, UNM Hospital Community Engagement, the University of New Mexico, the New Mexico Department of Health and local farmers, with residents invited to pick up produce and connect with health information.

The fair centered on a simple but urgent message: food choices shape long-term health. Dr. Shirley Ellison, the NAACP Albuquerque Branch’s health chair, said eating the right foods can help prevent chronic illness and that many people do not eat enough fruits and vegetables. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says healthy eating can help prevent, delay and manage heart disease and type 2 diabetes, and that diets rich in fruits and vegetables are linked with lower risk of heart disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes and some cancers.

Organizers said the produce fair was more than a food giveaway. The NAACP branch described it as a chance to bring neighbors, organizations and local partners together to support healthier communities across Albuquerque, and UNM Hospital Community Engagement listed produce-box distribution, cooking demonstrations and featured health vendors at Phil Chacon Park, 7600 Southern SE. The event page also opened attendance to anyone, reflecting a broad outreach effort rather than a closed-service model.

The need behind that outreach remains substantial. New Mexico’s Department of Health says the USDA estimated that more than 350,000 New Mexicans, including over 100,000 children, were food insecure in 2023. Feeding America puts the state’s food insecurity rate at 16.6 percent and estimates about 350,010 people lacked reliable access to enough food that year.

For Albuquerque families, that backdrop matters because fresh food is not just a matter of preference. Events like the produce fair try to link residents to food, health education and local suppliers in one place, while keeping the work grounded in the city’s own farmers and vendors. The first annual fair showed how neighborhood-level outreach can connect nutrition, disease prevention and access in a city where a single day of outreach still leaves the larger food gap in place.