HIGH POINT, N.C., June 1, 2015 – Everybody needs to eat, and High Point University rising sophomore Austin Baker is determined to make sure people in the Triad, especially those living in “food deserts,” have plenty of access to locally grown fresh produce.
Baker, a business management and entrepreneurship major from Charlotte, joined two other local entrepreneurs during his first year of college at HPU to create a new company called Everybody Eats Holdings. The company, formerly known as Garden of Faith, helps bring wholesome food to residents who don’t have access to grocery stores and also connects local farmers with wholesale and retail opportunities for selling their fresh produce.
Baker became involved in developing the company after meeting his business partners, Matthew Knight and Brandon Norman, at an HPU Entrepreneurship Club meeting. After learning about the work they are doing to address hunger in the Triad, he was inspired to join their efforts.
“We started Everybody Eats Holdings because we saw a problem that needed to be solved, not just for our own sake, but for the benefit of North Carolina and the rest of the United States,” says Baker. “The newly released FRAC food insecurity report lists the Greensboro-High Point area as the No. 1 food insecure area in the nation. Our goal is to veer away from that ranking by implementing new ways to help people live healthy, hunger-free lives.”
Baker brought the idea of including a for-profit aspect to the company to support the long-term sustainability of its non-profit projects, such as the Mobile Oasis Farmers Market, which sells fresh produce in food deserts and is authorized to accept EBT/SNAP vouchers. The for-profit arm, Triad Food Hub, helps small and midsize farmers sell their produce at the retail and wholesale level. It is currently aggregating products for farmers from Caswell, Orange and Alamance counties and is brokering brown eggs and tilapia.
Baker and his partners have plans to create a national campaign to increase awareness about hunger and raise funding support for their startup. They are encouraging supporters to use the hashtag #EverybodyEats on social media platforms.
“We want to make Everybody Eats a national campaign. We are creating a process that other food hubs from across the country can use to solve the same issues we’re facing,” Baker says. “As an HPU student, I am determined to make a change and illustrate to the world that differences can be made and dreams can be achieved.”
For more information about Everybody Eats, visit the campaign’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.