INDIANAPOLIS — A northside church's store is working to offer healthier options and help kids make better choices.
Eastern Star Church launched the store three years ago in August 2018 in an area designated as a food desert. Before the store opened, a gas station about a block away used to be the closest source to getting food.
"With health insurances and people not having jobs and not having health insurance and then again with COVID, if you do have an underlying condition, it's hard to get doctors to see you. We want you to take a look at what you're putting in your body," Veronica Collins-Kelly, development manager at Eastern Star Church, said. "The program is also ran by the [American] Heart Association ... we're just trying to get the word out [to] make healthier choices."
The store does not sell sugary beverages or snacks.
The recently launched "Rethink Your Drink" campaign was designed to compare the amount of sugar in various beverages, highlight healthier drink options and educate parents and youth about how to read nutrition labels to find the amount of added sugar in those beverages.
The campaign will run throughout 2021.
