Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County's NY Fresh Rx program delivers its 1,000th box of fresh produce

On Tuesday morning at East Meadow Farm, a delivery driver loaded several boxes packed with potatoes, cabbage and other fresh produce into the trunk of his gray sedan.

The boxes' destinations were the doorsteps of Nassau County residents who experience food insecurity and have diabetes or other medical conditions that could be treated through a better diet. They are free to the recipients as part of the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County's NY Fresh Rx program, which hopes to improve participants' health outcomes and reach more people this year. Cornell administers the program along with Harmony Healthcare Long Island and Hofstra University.

However, amid those goals, there is uncertainty around federal funding after the Trump administration sought to pause federal money to determine whether it corresponded with his agenda.

A federal judge ordered Trump to halt the stoppage but said on Monday that the administration had not done so, and that funding for childhood education and other areas was not being doled out.

The NY Fresh Rx program received a grant of about $480,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help fund it over three years. Last year was the first year of funding. Staff there said a funding freeze has not impacted them, but they said the program has other grants from outside the federal government to help sustain and grow the work.

"As a nonprofit, I'm always concerned about funding opportunities," said Nicole Borukhov, nutrition, health and wellness program coordinator at the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County. "As of right now, this program, we're operating as usual and going about our business."

On Tuesday, the program, which includes partners such as Harmony Healthcare Long Island, Hofstra University and the cooperative extension, made its 1,000th delivery.

Last year, NY Fresh Rx served about 80 people with food sourced from Long Island farms. This year, the program hopes to expand to serve about 150 people in need. Hofstra University is studying if there are any changes in participants' lives from before and after receiving the additional food.

The produce prescription program is open to patients at Harmony Healthcare Long Island — a federally qualified health center that attends to many underserved patients. The staff there work with the patients to identify whether they are facing food insecurity or receive food benefits and have a diet-related medical condition like obesity.

Patients can choose to sign up to be part of the program, which includes the opportunity to take cooking and nutrition classes.

From there, participants can get the food delivered to their homes every other week, which helps eliminate transportation barriers to ensure that people get access to the food. Each box weighs an average of 20 pounds.

"We're offering nutrition education. We'll give … you recipes. But if somebody can't get the produce, it doesn't matter," Borukhov said.

NY Fresh Rx pays DoorDash $5 per box as part of Project DASH, which helps food banks and other organizations make deliveries.

Daniel Riff, head of government and nonprofit operations at DoorDash, said organizations that partner with Project DASH are able to provide home delivery service to people "who might have barriers to accessing food by coming into a pantry or food bank."

"Those folks may be homebound. They may not have time in their schedules to make it when the pantry is open. They might be new parents," he said. "And so, the home delivery ensures that they can access food on a consistent basis without having to worry about those challenges."

With AP

By Tiffany Cusaac-Smith

tiffany.cusaac-smith@newsday.com@T_Cusaac

Education: Howard University 

Tiffany Cusaac-Smith came to Newsday in 2023 after being a race and history reporter at USA TODAY, where she wrote enterprise and spot articles examining how the past shapes the present. Previously, she worked as the race and justice reporter at the USA TODAY Network of New York, covering issues such as criminal justice reform, housing, environmental justice, health care and politics. At The Journal News/lohud.com in Westchester County, she covered Yonkers, the state's third-largest city. She also worked at The Associated Press in Atlanta.

Honors and Awards: Criminal justice reporting fellowship with the National Press Foundation;  New York News Publishers Association award for distinguished investigative reporting;  Contributed reporting for Best of Gannett honor; Member of Table Stakes, a program funded by the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund and managed by the American Press Institute to transform local news.