Eat Your Vegetables: AFG partners with Eat No Evil to teach girls culinary skills and the benefits to plant based eating

This month, two young women from AFG’s Shelter worked alongside plant-based health food company Eat No Evil to learn culinary skills and the benefits of eating a plant-based diet. Eat No Evil makes and sells vegan nutrition bars at local health and wellness centers and hospitals. “Eat No Evil bars are good for your body and for the planet. The packaging is biodegradable and the bars are vegan,” shares Rachelle Nash, owner of Eat No Evil.

Jessica and Sharai have only been at AFG for a few weeks, but they are already taking big steps to work towards their goals. Both young women have secured two jobs, in addition to working part time for Eat No Evil. For Jessica, this experience solidified her desire to become a chef. “I’d like to go to school for culinary arts. I want to learn how to make all the fancy foods,” she smiles.

Since creating Eat No Evil Rachelle planned to reach out to local community organizations, like AFG, to employ its’ participants. After meeting AFG Board Member, Pam Rodgers, and being introduced to AFG, she knew it was a perfect fit. “The idea was twofold, to hire girls at AFG to help make the product and then hopefully employ them in other ways down the line,” Rachelle explains.

For two weeks, Jessica and Sharai helped Rachelle make and package 600 bars for a Rhonda Walker Foundation event held on July 30th. The small group had fun listening to music, melting chocolate, and assembling the bars right here at AFG! “I learned how to make the bars and how to melt chocolate,” Sharai reflects. Now that they’ve learned these skills, Sharai and Jessica talked about making the bars for family and friends, “Now I can trick my kids and say, ‘Here, try these brownies!’” she laughs.

As Eat No Evil grows, Rachelle hopes to add an educational component so that she can teach the community the benefits of eating a vegan diet, “I hope to show them the science behind eating plant based meals,” she shares. In addition, she hopes to become a vendor at Whole Foods and Lucky’s Market.

“I’ve had fun working with the team!” Sharai exclaims as she melts the chocolate that tops each bar. As the group works to complete the last of the 600 bars, Jessica reflects on the experience while packaging one of the Chocolate Coconut bars, “To me, it’s been a great experience.”