Meet Tanyika Prather

Tanyika Prather is a busy working mom. Until recently, she also had a host of ailments. She suffered from chronic headaches. She was overweight. She had no energy to meet the demands of her busy life and job in corporate America. Repeated visits to her doctor couldn't find a reason.

That's when your gift showed Tanyika a simple lifestyle change could improve her health.

"I hate to say this, but I was slowly killing myself," she says. "I've learned that when you don't eat correctly, and eat a lot of restaurant food, it tears up your body. It's like they say: Food is health. It really is. I am a testament."

Tanyika’s doctor prescribed her Produce Perks, a program you support with your gift that delivers fresh and healthy foods to patients in their homes.

"With vouchers, you still have to go get it. If you are short on time, it's easy to put it off. With Produce Perks deliveries, the food is right there, and you just use it."

“I started cooking more and using more vegetables,” says Tanyika. “My headaches started going away. I had more energy and I lost weight. I liked it and liked how I felt. It changed me."

Even now, years later, she continues to eat healthy. She credits the convenience of Produce Perks with helping her to get started and stick with it. And the educational component goes hand-in-hand with the groceries to help people eat better. Tanyika learned how to shop around the outside of her grocery store where the fresh foods are. She now understands how eating habits are hereditary and can perpetuate chronic disease.

"If you continue doing what everybody else did, you continue to have what they had. Obesity, heart disease. But if you change it up, then you'll see the difference," she says.