Our Team
Jeremy Porter is the Director of the Tweens Nutrition and Fitness Coalition. He graduated from the University of KY with a B.A. in anthropology. He served as a church youth pastor for 10 years and was drawn to community food systems work in 2008. He founded Eden’s Gate Farm in Midway, KY and finds deep connection in being rooted in a place, particularly his neighborhood in North Lexington and the Cane Run Watershed.
Jeremy’s big questions: How do we cultivate relationships that center the primary voices of people marginalized by our food system? How do those relationships translate to work that accompanies people on a journey toward healthy communities for all?
Favorite food quote: “Never underestimate the power of a good meal.” porter.jeremy.r@gmail.com
Anita Courtney, MS, RD, is the School Wellness Action Plan (SWAP) Coordinator. Anita is a public health nutritionist who received her Bachelors and Masters degrees in nutrition from the University of Kentucky. She served as the Director of Health Promotion for the Lexington Fayette County Health Department for 25 years where she started the agency’s employee wellness program. She is a long time advocate for healthy eating and has started community gardens, taught vegetarian cooking classes, spearheaded the local and state 5 A Day Challenge and developed We Can! KY. She worked on the KY Junk Food Bill (SB 172) which helped earn KY the highest score, an A-, on the Center for the Science and the Public Interest School Nutrition Report Card.
Anita is the author of Shaping Kentucky’s Future: Policies to Reduce Obesity, Shaping Kentucky’s Future: Local Success Stories, and the Kentucky Farm to School Handbook. She is the co-author of Cultural Feast: Understanding Food and Society. anitac@qx.net
Laura Flowers, MSW, is the Farmer Organizer for Fresh Stop Markets. She has lived in North Lexington neighborhoods for more than 12 years and has been involved with numerous non-profits and neighborhood initiatives during that time. Her background is in social work; and she teaches part-time in the University of Kentucky College of Social Work. Laura loves to spend time with her family and in her garden. She believes that growing and sharing food is the strongest root of a healthy community.
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