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What happens when strangers decide to throw you a surprise party, and the prize exceeds your wildest dreams?
Ask Asha Loring, founder of Health in the Hood, the nonprofit group that sets up community gardens in South Florida food deserts to grow healthy food for their residents, the most recent beneficiary of a visit from a television personality looking for “bloody do-gooders.”
The story started in March, when Loring got an email from someone named Sam. “She said they were a production company doing a web-based documentary, and they were interested in finding out more about us,” she says. Details about the company were vague, but Loring went along with the request, agreeing to a tour and video shoot. Any exposure to her program would be good, she figured: “I don’t care where it airs.”
“Sam” was actually Sarah Yourgrau of “Returning the Favor,” a weekly web show featuring “Dirty Jobs” host Mike Rowe. In its second season, the Facebook show follows Rowe and his crew traveling around the country in search of people who make a difference in the community. In each episode, they pay a visit to an honoree, like a rebuilding group in New Orleans using youth to rebuild blighted properties; a team of women roofers in Forest City, North Carolina, fixing roofs for needy folks; and an 88-year-old restaurateur in San Antonio who employs people who’ve left the prison system. They show them in full do-good mode, then spring on them a surprise – whatever it is they need to help them spread their mission farther.
Loring didn’t know that Corine Newsome, manager of their Opa Locka garden, had nominated Health in the Hood to be considered for the show. Wrote Newsome about Loring: “She started her organization Health in the Hood to help low-income areas have access to fresh and healthier food options totally FREE! It’s not unusual to see her in one of the gardens putting in some work, either. She even educates and shows families different activities to do to get and remain healthy.”
A week after her post, Newsome heard from the producer, who first asked questions about Health in the Hood’s mission and goals, and then: what might Health in the Hood need?
The answer, she knew, was a food truck of sorts to take their fresh, free produce on the road – think of an ice-cream truck stocked with kale, zucchini and tomatoes harvested from their gardens, all free for the community. Newsome envisioned an old school bus that could be converted a mobile market. She shared her research with the Returning the Favor crew.
The next question from the team: how to keep this a secret from Asha?
Turns out that Rowe and his team are used to this kind of stealth. After all, they’ve done 30+ episodes in the series, skillfully concealing their projects for the surprise – the reveal – while interviewing the subjects of the story. Anticipating that Loring might look it up, “they created a fake website and names,” says Newsome. “They were very creative.”
With Newsome’s help, the Returning the Favor team planned the tour with Loring at their gardens in Opa Locka and in Liberty City. In mid-April, as planned, the crew showed up to meet her in person. And to her surprise, that included star Mike Rowe. “All I knew is that he was the Dirty Jobs guy doing gross stuff,” says Loring. Meanwhile, conspirator Newsome and the others had to keep up the facade. “I had to pretend that I was meeting everyone for the first time,” she says.
As they had planned, Loring took Rowe and the crew around the gardens, where he met with master gardener Niki and planted some peppers, and visited a neighborhood convenience store to talk about food deserts. “There were lots of cameras and logistics,” explains Loring. They also interviewed her parents, where her father, Dr. Marvin Dunn, described as the OG – original gardener – explains to Rowe the importance of the gardens for nutrition and also for beautification of urban neighborhoods. “It makes it look more peaceful.”
The reveal took place at the garden party in Liberty City, where the community gathered for healthy food, kids’ activities and a raffle. As with any surprise party, all the players were making sure Loring would not inadvertently discover the surprise, parked around the block. “At the end of the party, Asha thought the crew was winding down,” says Newsome. Then Miami mayor Francis Suarez appears. With cameras running, Rowe steps into the raffle scene with Loring and offers to pull a winning ticket. He reads off Asha’s name – and while she looks on, slightly baffled, their new mobile veggie truck pulls up, driven by her father. Loring’s astonished response, captured on camera, is priceless.
The mobile bus, created in one week by local firm McKenzie Construction, is a former airport shuttle bus converted into the veggie van of her dreams. Unlike a school bus, this vehicle is short and wide, with big windows and a pullout canopy to make a shaded area plus a place where vegetable bins can be set out. Inside, ingenuity shows in the details: vegetable bins under a mister to keep produce fresh, a fridge, compost bin, built-in cutting boards and lots of storage.
“They even made up reusable bags for produce,” Loring says. There are wheelbarrows with tools and supplies. On the outside, the van is colorfully painted and emblazoned with Health in the Hood. “With this recognizable vehicle, we can really reach more people, increase our visibility in an exciting way,” she says.
Between the time the episode was shot, in mid-April, and when it was scheduled to air on Facebook in July, everyone involved in its production had to keep it a secret. It also gave Loring time to deal with practical matters, starting with where to park the truck. They checked in with a few places and decided to keep it at Lotus House in exchange for helping with their rooftop garden. She also had to find and schedule drivers. For now, the bus will go to north and south routes two days a week. Eventually, she hopes to expand to seven days a week. Meanwhile, her plans to grow Health in the Hood are being fast-tracked, she says: “The bus expedites all that.”
When the episode finally aired on July 10, Loring noted it instantly logged 40K views and within two days was up to 1.5 million views. As the purpose of Returning the Favor is to inspire others to work selflessly in practical ways to improve their communities, for Loring, she hopes viewers don’t miss the importance of the human element of Health in the Hood – that people care enough about the community. “This is not a forgotten neighborhood,” she says.
Health in the Hood
This nonprofit relies on volunteer support and donations. Find out more here.
If you see a young woman measuring and staking vacant land in your neighborhood, passing out flyers and offering to pay...
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