Worcester Health and Cooking Up Health Partners Celebrate Year One and Announce Mini Grantees for Calendar Year 2026

Snow Hill, Maryland– The Worcester County Health Department and project partners, including Chesapeake Health Care, University of Maryland Extension, Worcester County Library, and Worcester County Public Schools, are working together to implement Cooking up Health in Worcester: A Nourishing Neighbors Program.

The program is funded by Carefirst BlueCross BlueShield and is designed to help increase access to healthy food, cooking classes, food preservation education, nutrition education, and financial wellness training.

The "Cooking up Health" program achieved significant community impact, addressing nutrition and food insecurity through various initiatives in 2025:

Increasing Access to Fresh Produce and Healthy Food:

Held 22 "Pop-Up" Farmers Markets, providing 206 county residents with increased access to fresh produce.
Enabled 98 low-income community members to double their purchasing power for produce at "Pop Up" farmers markets through the "Double Up" program.
Supported 4 community gardens, which collectively served 1,190 county residents and distributed over 1,111 pounds of produce.
Distributed 771 produce seed packets via "Seed" Libraries at Worcester County library branches.
Constructed and maintained 2 Little Food Pantries boxes in the community, offering 24/7 access to healthy, non-perishable foods and beverages.

Promoting Nutrition Education and Skills:

Purchased and placed 2 mobile teaching kitchens in public library locations for use in educating the community on healthy eating, nutrition, and cooking skills.
Educated 37 country residents through "Cooking up Health" classes covering nutrition, cooking, financial literacy, and food preservation.

In January, the Worcester County Health Department released requests for proposals for community gardens, pop-up farmers markets, and food pantry boxes. All mini-grant applications were reviewed by a subcommittee of the Cooking up Health project team. The Health Department is pleased to announce the following mini-grant awardees:

Atlantic Club- Received funding to sustain their community garden and to support and maintain a food pantry box on their property.
Corner Sanctuary, Inc.- Received funding to sustain their community garden located in Pocomoke.
Cross Farms, LLC- Received funding to provide “pop-up” farmers markets in low-income communities and to implement a “match” program for the purchase of produce.
Pocomoke High School- Received funding to support a community garden at the Pocomoke High School.
Worcester County Technical High School- Received funding to support a community garden on their campus.
Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services- Received funding to support and maintain a food pantry box at their office in Berlin.

To learn more about this exciting project and upcoming events, follow the Worcester County Health Department on social media, @worcesterhealth, and visit their website worcesterhealth.org.