Since its founding in 2005, Community Link has tackled innovative ways to alleviate hunger and food scarcity for Tarrant County families. In the areas served by Community Link, 30% of children are food insecure, meaning they lack consistent access to sufficient, nutritious food. Through online food ordering, a drive-thru food pantry and partnerships with local farmers markets, they provided nearly 23,000 families with food last year alone.

But like many food programs, the group has faced obstacles to providing people with fresh produce. Donated fruits and veggies go bad quickly and don’t always make it to families. In March 2025, Community Link found a way to deliver vegetables to families almost as soon as they were harvested: freight farms.

Freight farms are vertical farms built inside of repurposed shipping containers. They utilize hydroponic farming, in which plants are grown without soil and instead grow inside water-based solutions. The farms can be placed virtually anywhere and grow year-round because of their self-contained climate. The result is a high-yield farm that requires far less space than a traditional garden.

Community Link obtained its first freight farm in 2025 and Fresh Link Farms was born. By September, they had their first harvest. Since then, they’ve grown 21,000 plants: romaine lettuce, kale, collard greens, bok choy and other veggies. There has been a spirit of excitement about this project from the community and clients, said Whitney Berry, Community Link’s Director of Markets and Local Food.

“The enthusiasm from our clients and volunteers says it all—Fresh Link Farms is creating meaningful connections to fresh, healthy food,” Berry said. “Our freight farm is not just growing produce, it’s growing engagement, education, and opportunity.”

Once a week, volunteers are able to harvest and distribute produce directly to clients through Community Link’s food pantry. The nonprofit also transports veggies down the road to the Community Caring Center in Azle. 

A Collaborative Effort for Community Health

On Saturday, the nonprofit hosted its official grand opening at the freight farm, dubbed the Lettuce Shack. The event took place at the Azle’s Farmer’s Market, which Community Link also runs, at 225 Church St, Azle, TX 76020. Attendees toured the Lettuce Shack, self-harvested some of the plants and learned more about hydroponic farming.

Saturday's event was also a celebration of Fresh Link Farm’s collaboration with Cook Children’s Center for Community Health, the American Heart Association and other supporters. 

Cook Children’s and the American Heart Association have been supporters of the freight farm project and are providing financial support for the ongoing costs of managing the Lettuce Shack. On April 25, Cook Children’s will also host a container gardening workshop at the Saginaw Farmers Market in partnership with the American Heart Association. During the session, families will learn how to grow their own food, receive the supplies needed to start a container garden at home, and take home fresh ingredients to prepare a healthy recipe together.

“Access to nutritious foods plays an essential role in heart health,” said Jenny Eyer, vice president of community impact for the American Heart Association in North Texas. “This freight farm will help improve access to fresh, locally grown produce for thousands in our Azle community starting today and strengthening health outcomes for years to come.”

Cook Children’s also hopes to offer at least four educational sessions, led by Cook Children’s Center for Community Health, focused on nutrition and healthy habits at home.

“By combining education, access, and hands-on support, this partnership aims to create lasting impacts on family health and nutrition, while also laying the foundation for future opportunities to expand and deepen its reach within the community,” said Emily Epperson, Program Manager of Community Health.

The partnership is a perfect fit for Cook Children’s as part of its mission to advance nutrition security across the region. As the largest food pantry in Northwest Tarrant County, Community Link plays a vital role in serving families in need. Through the introduction of a freight farm, this collaboration will significantly increase access to fresh, healthy produce — ensuring more neighbors have the resources they need to support healthier lives.

Berry said the collaboration allows Community Link to have a broader reach to community members and pursue even bigger dreams.

“How we maintain anything as a nonprofit is through collaboration and our community,” she said. “We are a small nonprofit, so having the support of these organizations means the world to us.”

When Fresh Link is able to grow, harvest and give produce to community members, the result is a full circle moment for volunteers and clients, Berry said. Volunteers are able to harvest produce on Wednesday and hand it directly to someone on Thursday, saying, “Hey, I grew this, it grew in Azle just down the street, we picked it yesterday, and it's for your family.”

In the three months after its first harvest in September 2025, Fresh Link Farms provided its fresh, locally grown produce to more than 14,000 people. With its new partnership, the nonprofit hopes to provide nutritious produce to thousands more families.

The United States Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as a lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life. Food insecurity is associated with health problems and behavioral challenges for children that may negatively affect their ability to function normally and participate fully in school and other activities.

“Children who don’t get enough to eat — especially during their first three years — begin life at a serious disadvantage,” said Karen Love, President of Cook Children’s Health Plan. “Children facing hunger are more likely to experience problems in school. They’re also more likely to be hospitalized and face risks of serious health conditions such as anemia and asthma.”

According to Cook Children’s 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment, an estimated 303,000 children (nearly one in four children) in our eight-county service area live in households that could not always afford nutritious foods.

Local and national research reflects that food insecurity and diet-related diseases have a disproportionate impact on children in historically underserved communities. Environments, including surrounding neighborhood infrastructure, accessibility and affordability barriers predominantly cause food insecurity.

Food insecurity has always been an issue, but it has been exacerbated by the ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation, which has caused the cost of food and many other goods to increase drastically.

Community Collaboration

Cook Children’s Center for Community Health and Health Plan have many programs and resources in place for community health outreach. In addition to those programs, the teams are collaborating with community partners to support families as best they can.

“Recognizing the important intersection between food insecurity, social determinants of health, and healthy children, Cook Children’s embarked on a system initiative in fiscal year 2023 to identify strategies for addressing these important concerns,” Love said. “This initiative strongly connects to our system’s Promise: Knowing every child’s life is sacred, we promise to improve the well-being of every child in our care and our communities.”

Cook Children’s primary strategies are to:

• Support efforts to screen for food insecurity with health plan and community members, as well as with patient families within our Neighborhood Health Centers and other areas
• Proactively identify communities with extensive food insecurity needs
• Improve access to healthy food
• Increase enrollment in underutilized child nutrition programs, such as SNAP and WIC
• Increase and support community education efforts around nutrition and food access

“We understand that tackling big issues like food insecurity requires the whole community to come together,” said Emily Epperson, Child Wellness Program Manager at Cook Children’s Center for Community Health. “So many organizations already do so much to serve children and families in their local community. Working alongside them is another way Cook Children’s can fulfill our Promise at a broader scale.”

A Hand Up, Not a Handout

Cook Children’s Center for Community Health and Health Plan connect families to food through a partnership with The Center of Hope.  

The Center of Hope offers short and long-term poverty assistance in Parker County. Throughout its 25 years of service, the nonprofit organization has helped individuals holistically, addressing their physical, emotional and spiritual needs. Center of Hope offers real solutions that will equip and empower individuals to live a more successful life.

Since 2005, the Center of Hope has hosted Camp Hope at local churches to provide an environment for children to focus on community, healthy choices, life skill development and character building. Each summer, campers participate in fun games and activities, learn how to prepare their own meals and more.

“Our philosophy is to provide a hand up and not a handout,” said Staci Markwardt, CEO at Center of Hope. “We developed the Camp Hope program to encompass giving out more than just food. Kids learn to prepare meals and then they get to take home those same ingredients so they’re able to prepare their meals at home. They also get a week’s worth of groceries throughout the month. It’s just a fun camp!”

Markwardt says the partnership with Cook Children’s enabled Camp Hope to provide food and education to 300 kids this summer. The children learned how to cook healthy meals and make healthy choices using the 5210+ Every Day toolkit.

“The support we received from Cook Children’s was amazing,” Markwardt said. “Our true passion is to help people out of their situations. It really does feel so good knowing we’re making an impact, helping kids break that cycle of poverty, so they can learn and grow and not end up in poverty like their generations before.”

Key Partnerships to Address Food Needs

Cook Children’s continues to explore opportunities to partner with organizations and tackle the issue of food insecurity. Recently, Cook Children’s partnered with Tarrant Area Food Bank and H-E-B to open another R.E.D. Market, which is essentially a grocery store on wheels. It’s a refrigerated trailer that includes shelves just like a supermarket, which are stocked with items such fresh fruits, vegetables and dairy items. The R.E.D. Market vehicle will make multiple stops in a single day, connecting families to food, SNAP benefits and additional community resources to address housing, education, and employment. TAFB will work with Cook Children’s to identify specific community neighborhoods in need based on income and food insecurity screening data.

In the wake a baby is dead and her mom has been charged with her murder. In addition, the baby’s dad has been charged with aggravated battery and cruelty to a child for diluting their baby’s breast milk with water, then refusing to take the child for medical care.

By the time they did take her to the hospital, she was already dead.

Unfortunately, this is not uncommon. I remember a similar case from years ago in which a child’s family was desperate for money and thought they could use extra water to make their formula last longer. In a study from Clinical Pediatrics, up to 25 percent of families considered “food-insecure” admitted to using various methods to make their formula last longer.

The problem is that extra water is not safe for babies. It causes the sodium level in their blood to drop. Low sodium will lead to brain swelling which can cause poor feeding, lethargy, seizure and eventually death.

Giving free water to babies is not just an issue of formula stretching. Families commonly ask during the summer months if their babies need extra water due to the heat. The answer is NO!

Some reasons babies don’t need water:

• Breast milk and formula is mostly water (80-90 percent). Babies don’t get thirsty. Their diet is primarily liquid.
• Water does not have nutrition or electrolytes babies need. If a baby is going to be drinking something, why not make it be something that can help them grow?

Babies can safely start to drink some water after six months but they still don’t need a lot. They can get one to three ounces during their meals if parents want to introduce and practice with a sippy cup.