The Health and Wellness Center gave out free fresh produce and pedometers to students to encourage health and exercise at an event on Wednesday. 

To prevent food waste, the center partnered with an off-campus company, called Hungry Harvest, that sources the produce from excess food that would have normally ended up in a landfill.

“The market is a way to ensure that we’re being holistic in serving nutritious needs of our students,” Caitlin Silver-Negrón, AACC’s basic needs coordinator, said. “One of the many ways we do that is with our campus food pantry … but we don’t have a ton of capacity to do fresh items at the pantry.”

The center organizes a Wellness Wednesday every month. In October they focused on sleep, and in December they will focus on stress.

Valerie Williams, a second-year computer science student, said she came to the event especially for the fresh kale.

“I know I’m about to make a smoothie when I get home,” Williams said. “Thank you, Wellness Wednesday.”

First-year psychology student Kayley Walsh hadn’t planned to come to the event, but the tables of fresh produce caught her eye.

“It’s really fun,” Walsh said. “ It really helps me to get out of my bubble, I tend to be to myself and these activities kind of force me to talk to other people.”