When a research project, a grant and some highly-dedicated students come together with a passion for bettering the lives of others, the community of Mount Pleasant can become a place where healthy eating and hope go hand-in-hand.

Project Mind Grow, a registered student organization at Central Michigan University, focuses on promoting healthy living for all citizens in Isabella County, regardless of budget, dietary needs or any factors that may prohibit people from eating well.

Starting off as a research project aimed to answer how people are directly impacted by being taught healthy-eating habits, Project Mind Grow which officially became an RSO in Spring 2017, takes a look at how mental health and quality of life are improved when people have been educated about health and wellness.

“We received a grant to buy our cooking supplies, like the pots and pans that we use,” Project Mind Grow president and Traverse City sophomore Sierra Lardie said. “It covered everything that we have, actually, and we still had some money left over that we can put towards future events.”

The group has become involved at CMU, taking part in two to three events each month to collect data and to benefit the campus and the community.

They meet from 6-7 p.m. every Tuesday in Pearce Hall room 123A.

“It’s very eye-opening how so many people on campus don’t know about nutrition, and it’s really inspirational how this small group of ours can impact so many people,” Lardie said.

Kait Rethman, the data collections officer of Project Mind Grow noted there is a need for education on things like nutrition and healthy living, which the RSO provides.

“We have a homeless population; we have serious food inequalities with the Native American population and just the general Mount Pleasant community," she said. "We try to reach everybody. There’s no such thing as impacting too many people.”

To do so, the RSO works with other organizations, including the Community Compassion Network (CCN), to create a platform for education. Recently, Project Mind Grow and CCN teamed up at Mount Pleasant’s new stationary food pantry, where members of the RSO are able to develop and broadcast videos to show people how to use the products they are receiving from the shelter to make nutritious meals.

In addition, the group shows documentaries on dietetics-related information and conducts grocery store tours, informative store walk-throughs to demonstrate how to make healthier shopping choices.

They also teach people how to plant their own herbs, vegetables and fruits, and are working with Campus Health Advocates Motivating Peers (CHAMPS), a group looking that teaches students about health and safety on campus, to prepare presentations and events for the end-of-March Week of Wellness on campus.

In the future, some goals of the organization include having more community involvement and beginning to teach more lessons on dietary restrictions, including how to make vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free meals on a budget and how to find fat or lactose substitutes for cooking.

The members of the organization have big goals for Project Mind Grow’s future in terms of education and building relations with other community members, and potentially reaching past Isabella County, through the rest of the state, and eventually all across the U.S.

“I would love to see this on other campuses, nationally known, and to see that there are people in their own communities building those connections to help people’s mental help and help their physical well-being,” Lardie said. “My dream is that it can grow to impact people all over the country, because this is the type of organization that can change the lives of people everywhere.”

More information on the RSO can be found on the Facebook page, "Project Mind Grow" or on twitter @ProjectMindGrow.