Jackson Free Press: Local Service Member Named Person of the Day

by Dustin Cardon

Abigail Phillips, 22, recently came to Jackson to make a difference. As a service member of Food Corps, a national non-profit organization, she builds and tends school gardens, helping children learn about whole foods and balanced diets.

“There are 3 pillars that FoodCorps rests on: Knowledge, Engagement and Access,” Phillips said. “Our goal is to reverse the rate of childhood obesity. I’ll be doing that by working in public schools, mostly in low-income districts.” She is one of four FoodCorps service members working in Mississippi.

Phillips came to Jackson from St. Paul, Minn. Before that, she attended the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash. She gets a stipend for her work with FoodCorps, which includes working with school cafeterias to serve healthy foods and getting community members involved in better nutrition.

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