North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper made several stops through Western North Carolina Mon. to mark the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.
Cooper greeted volunteers at the Downtown YMCA as they sifted through donated food for the agency’s nutrition outreach program. The mobile market provides fresh produce to individuals and families in need in Henderson, Madison, Haywood, McDowell and Buncombe Counties. Governor Cooper says it’s just one of several ways of improving equity in the state.
“Doctor King said, ‘life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?’ Today here at the Y we’re seeing volunteers in the nutrition area getting produce and food to people who need it.”
North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services says about 1 in 5 kids in North Carolina face food insecurity, nearly double the national average. That figure is higher in the Western Carolina region, due in large part to stagnant and falling wages, rising housing costs, and a lack of transportation.
“The different types of families that we serve, they come from all different types of backgrounds. But everyone deserves healthy food, so we’re making sure they have that access,” Lauren Furgiuele, nutrition director of operations at the YMCA, said.
During his stop, the Democratic governor also pushed for expanding Medicare. That policy item has been held up by Republican legislators in Raleigh.
“We have a real opportunity now to draw down federal money to close this healthcare coverage gap,” Cooper Said. “A lot of working North Carolinians are without healthcare because their employers don’t provide it for them, they make too much to quality for Medicaid now, they don’t make enough to qualify for subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. And they’re stuck. It’s a shame for us to let this go by.”
Following his tour of The Y, Gov. Cooper visited volunteers doing a cleanup at Asheville Greenworks as well as volunteers with Habitat for Humanity working on a housing project in Candler.
