On feeding the poor...a local area's solution to stocking the food pantry.

[Skidmore]

Last edited Tue May 21, 2013, 07:52 AM - Edit history (2)

Just wanted to pass this on because it is a good idea and is working. One of this areas local food pantries was having problems with keeping stock. They opted to set up a collection booth at the local farmer's market and people can drop off food items when they come to shop. The other thing they have done is to accept donations of fresh food purchased from the farmers at the market. They have substantially increased the amount of food they are collecting and have the additional benefit being able to make fresh produce available to those in need.

Forgot to add that they are set up accept donations of money as well and they got a spot on the local news to inform people about the options for donations.

[SoCalDem]

1. Great idea.. Gotta make it visible and easy...and routine

People forget, or don't know..

[OneGrassRoot]

2. Thank you. K&R n/t

[southernyankeebelle]

3. Our local Krogers store does a neat thing. They have a barrel set up and next to it they

have a bag with some basics in them and you can pick up the bag and pay $5.00 at the register and before you leave you can put it in this barrel. We do help doing that. I know when we use to go to the children's mass on sunday during communion two children would bring a large basket up and the priest would call the children up to bring their donations. The little children loved bringing up their can goods and put them in the basket. The basket always got filled. People who needed help with food were able to come and get some food. What I liked about it they didn't have to belong to our church to get help. Our priest never got in the middle of it. They were there to get help and leave. Sometimes they came back with a donation of food. You can't get any better than that.

[Skidmore]

4. We had a store in another town that did something similar.

THe town that does the farmer's market approach also foresaw the hits coming to the Meals on Wheels programs and were very proactive to head off a disaster to its area program which also serves the elderly in the rural areas. Without paratransit systems, these elderly are particularly vulnerable. They held a couple of benefits last fall and collected donations to head off the effects of the looming sequestration.

[southernyankeebelle]

9. We have a farmers market in our rural town. I know that the senior center has

a program for low income seniors where they can get veggies for free once a month. It really helps them.

[supernova]

5. It's called Farmers Foodshare

They have a booth at the market and people can make donations of cash, market vendors can donate food or extra that they didn't sell that day. The FFS program also near the end of the market takes the cash on hand and buys fresh local food from vendors and distributes it to those in need.

I sell a kind of baked good, my own creation. Sometimes I donate, sometimes the program buys from me.

Everybody wins!

http://www.farmerfoodshare.org/

[Skidmore]

6. It's good to see other places are doing this.

I haven't heard that organization being connected with this effort though. In our village we have a farmer's market. It's really small. But every year we pool resources and plant a large garden on land donated by the only church. People volunteer time to till, plant, and weed. Anyone can harvest and take what they want. We have a little community building where signs are put up when there is produce available and the produce is left on the porch in baskets for people to pick up. The elderly can have as much food as they want or need for free. Younger people need to exchange labor in the garden for the food. We're into the fifth year of doing this. It costs less than $100 to feed a village of 200 people for the summer.

[socialsecurityisAAA]

7. The social benefits of that must be astounding.

If they did that everywhere violent crime would drop, healthy bodies and minds would abound and children would develop a great appreciation for "community". Truly a model for all the world to follow.

[bleedinglib]

8. From the garden!!

I work with a local help organization. We have a food pantry, Womens shelter, low income housing & rent assistance.
I'm planting extra veggies this year to help provide fresh healthy foods for the needy. Not only is this good physical therapy, It's fun
& does help our pantry!!

[cali]

10. that's a great idea. here's another one. The Food bank owns an organic farm

In 2007, Kingsbury Farm was bought by the Vermont Land Trust and sold to the Vermont Foodbank the following year, with the stipulation that Kingsbury Farm must provide the Vermont Foodbank with 40,000 pounds of produce annually in exchange for the use of 22 acres of land (7 tillable acres of organically-managed farmland) and infrastructure. However, once those noble terms were met, farmers and proprietors Aaron Locker and Suzanne Slomin were free to grow food to be sold at their farm store. The store in Warren, VT opened in late June and their wares include fresh produce, regionally produced cheeses, naturally leavened breads and pizza shells, farmstead soups, tarts and more.

This kind of partnership serves several purposes and could certainly serve as an example of best practices:

http://thehungerforum.net/2010/09/06/kingsbury-market-garden-and-vermont-foodbank/