Episode 133: Gardening for a Cause
About the Podcast
Alexis Motley is a dietitian and founder of the My Kid Plate Foundation. This nonprofit started with the creation of Alexis’ family garden and has blossomed into multiple garden programs across her community. The mission behind the foundation is bigger than gardening. It’s about having kids get their hands dirty, ensuring access to food, connecting gardeners and their communities, bringing diversity into the area of dietetics and so much more.
About Alexis Motley
Alexis is contagiously positive and passionate about nutrition and creating healthy lifestyles for everyone in her community. She is known for her comprehensive approach that encompasses a positive relationship between food and physical activity. Alexis takes her professional expertise and practical ideas to make nutrition fun and easy. Alexis received her Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from Southern University A&M College. This is where she Commissioned into the United States Army as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Engineer Corps. After serving her Country proudly, Alexis attended McNeese State University, where she received her Master of Science in Health and Human Performance and completed the dietetic internship program.
After graduation, Alexis started her career as a Clinical Dietitian with Lake Charles Memorial Hospital. As a Military spouse, Alexis and her family moved to Colorado Springs, and that is where she became a Consulting Dietitian for 5 Star Senior Living Cooperation. While working with patients at this location, Alexis took her love for food to help create nutritious menus with fun activities to enhance the living experience for senior citizens. Alexis returned to Louisiana, taking a consulting position as the Senior Registered Dietician at Fort Polk to serve the Soldiers, Families, and the community within the area at Bayne Jones Army Community Hospital. As her involvement grew, she collaborated with healthcare teams to create a comprehensive treatment program focused on healthy weight and body image for children, adolescents, and families who desired prevention and treatment for weight management, diabetes, and other metabolic concerns. During the pandemic, My Kid Plate Foundation was created to simply assist children and families with healthy food access, create more diversity in dietetics and promote nutrition education. Our flagship program is the My Kid Plate Garden Project. Currently, Alexis serves as the Executive Director at My Kid Plate Foundation. Additionally, she is the Dietetic Internship Director at Southern University A&M College in Baton Rouge, LA. She is completing her Ph.D. program in Nutrition at Louisiana State University. Her research interest includes school gardens in early childcare facilities.
Discussion Takeaways
- Alexis has two young boys who just discovered their love for growing their own food.
- Alexis thought what her boys were learning in the garden was so good that she decided to begin a nonprofit with a small grant from the Sigi Foundation and other private donors. She called it the My Kid Plate Foundation with a goal of developing small food gardens across her community. She began this work in Batonrouge, Louisiana, but the Foundation it’s spreading into other places.
- Gardening provides access to food for families who can’t usually get the produce dietitians and other health professionals tell them to eat.
- Alexis teaches at at Southern University. Faculty supported her Foundation by starting a garden to lead community-based research. Their Children’s Hospital built garden boxes for grade schools, and Alexis is now connecting to various Head Start locations.
- Anyone who wants a garden, My Kid Plate Foundation will provide it whether it’s about the need for better food access and nutritional insecurity or not.
- Alexis’ team created free produce tables at places where anti-hunger programs occur. Schools who serve free or reduced priced meals, cannot always ensure that her garden produce qualifies under that programs requirements. That means, the most vulnerable, food insecure kids might not be able to eat her produce. So, she sets up a free produce stand during parent pickup.
- When Alexis takes on a project, she doesn’t take a “no” for an answer. If someone turns her down, she always asks, “Can you tell me why?”
- We’re only as strong as our organizational and community partners. Churches, schools, nonprofits, and others have provided locations, supplies, make connections, and more for Alexis’ nonprofit.
- Everyone can get involved with gardening with the My Kid Plate Foundation, even elected officials have volunteered!
- If you are passionate about what you do, people feel your energy and get motivated too.
- My Kid Plate Foundation is bigger than gardening. It’s about having kids get their hands dirty, ensuring access to food, connecting gardeners and their communities, bringing diversity into the area of dietetics and so much more.
- To facilitate more diversity in dietetics and nutrition, My Kid Plate Foundation gives out scholarships for people who want to become registered dietitians or nutrition professionals but might not have means to get their education.
- Gardens can reflect the cultural diversity of their community
- Diversity and representation matter even on the plate.
- For Alexis, Food Dignity® is about providing healthy food options for everyone without shame or stigma. People shouldn’t feel shame, stigma, or guilty about their food.
- Case study books in Medical Nutrition Therapy college courses now include information on the patients’ religious beliefs, financial circumstance, and other helpful background information.
- Alexis believes in individualizing food, nutrition advice, and gardening.
#1 tip to improve access to healthy food
- Stop assuming why people are not eating their fruits and vegetables. Always ask why. Some people might not visit the produce section because they have never been able to afford it fresh.
Each week on the Food Dignity® Podcast, the Food Dignity® Movement's Clancy Harrison hosts a wide variety of hunger experts and other people making changes on the frontlines. Join us as we dive deep into conversations that will change the way you think about food insecurity.
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