Debra Long puts food on many tables in Twin Counties

Debra Long wants to put food on the table for those who need it.

But she also wants to bring to the table serious discussions about disease prevention and health to the Twin Counties.

Long, a registered dietician and founder of Crossworks Inc., is passionate about making people’s lives healthier, more prosperous and more educated.

Through her work of more than 30 years, she has taught the importance of knowing about hunger, diabetes, heart disease, obesity and obvious health disparities between African-Americans and people of other ethnic origins.

Even Long could not anticipate how fast her vision would catch on.

A voice from above

She was seeing patients on a daily basis, but something was missing. Long, a registered dietician with a local doctor’s office, knew there were people who were not getting her message. There was a lack of insurance, a lack of knowledge. Too many Twin Counties residents were not getting word of the importance of nutrition in one’s life.

That’s when a message came, from a familiar voice. “I felt a nudging from the Lord to go out into the community,” Long says, “to teach the importance of a healthy lifestyle.”

Crossworks, born in 1999 of Long’s dream, was created to establish a hunger-free and healthy society built upon strong spiritual, nutritional and health principles. The organization works to offer resources for the hungry as well as provide job-training opportunities.

Those affected by Crossworks can lead self-sufficient and productive lives by breaking the chain of poverty. Crossworks helps people find work in the food service industry and helps organizations not only offer emergency food supplies, but also teach solutions to avoid the need for those emergency provisions. The organization aims to build up people physically, spiritually, emotionally and financially.

Long works tirelessly in the community to reach those in need of Crossworks’ services, and her effort extends to presentations at conferences and consultations with various agencies, including rest homes and family care homes.

“We’ve seen tremendous growth in our organization,” she says. Ten years strong, Crossworks is gaining attention from the community and from the state.

“The community has given me a lot,” Long says. “From sitting down and listening to people, I’ve taken a lot of the anecdotes I’ve heard and used them in my courses and in my presentations. The community is really starting to embrace Crossworks.”

Work never done

Long, who was born in Albuquerque, N.M., has lived in many places, including New Jersey, France and Philadelphia. She found herself drawn to Rocky Mount because of family ties to the area. Both her parents were born in the Rocky Mount area, and countless aunts, uncles and cousins are still here.

“I re-established roots here,” Long says, and it worked out really well.

Long remembers being once known as “the fruit lady” in Rocky Mount, when she and her son, David, started a business called “Orchard of Life” through which they would take orders for fruit from local residents who were unable to leave home, then deliver it.

“It was a beautiful business,” Long says. Even then, she was bringing the joy of a healthy diet to others.

With David and her other two children, Danielle and Dana grown, and a 3-year-old grandson, Long’s life is rich beyond Crossworks. She is an ordained minister and an ordained missionary and is active at Morning Star Church of Christ.

She has taught nutrition courses at Nash Community College, and this is the first year since 1997 that she has not taught nutrition courses at N.C. Wesleyan College.

Still, most of her time goes to Crossworks and the causes it stands for.

“It’s an all-consuming job,” Long says. “I have to wear a lot of hats. It consumes practically most of my life.”

Being familiar with the way nutritionists and dieticians work with patients in doctors’ offices, Long decided she wanted to fill the information gap that occurs in those offices. Doctors can be so busy that they might not have time to sit down with patients and give them detailed information on the nutritional guidelines they need to follow.