A Community Solution: Farmers and Gardeners Feed Neighbors

When local community members and parents Regan Henry and Erin Morse reached out to South Hero Land Trust in March, they were worried about the families in our town who could be out of work and struggling to access food. Summertime is often a challenging time for families who access free or reduced price meals at school, as Kaight Althoff knows from her work with Food for Thought, a program of the South Hero Congregational Church, that provides weekly bags of food to families with children across Grand Isle County, to help fill in the gap during school breaks. Would more kids and families be at risk due to the economic backlash of the COVID-19 pandemic?

At the same time, we were hearing from local farmers whose markets were at risk. Many of them usually rely on selling their products to local restaurants and large employers who were closed indefinitely at the time. Our local farms are essential employers, and a critical source of fresh vegetables, eggs, and meat for our community. We needed to find a way to help keep them afloat during the tumultuous spring.

Was there a way we could help both? We decided to find out. We brought together these local parents with our partners at Food for Thought and the Healthy Roots Gleaning Program to create a new “Grow for your Neighbor” campaign.

With seed money from the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation and local donors, we worked with Regan, Erin, and other community volunteers to grow donation gardens at Health Hero Farm and the Folsom School & Community Garden. We created a free seed library at the Worthen Library. And we bought seedlings from local farmers and distributed them directly to families through local partners. Finally, we signed up volunteer gardeners to grow extra plants for local food shelves and meal programs. Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve accomplished so far:

5 partnerships with local farms

7 community organizations and food shelves help distribute plants and food

15 volunteer gardeners growing extra food for local food shelves

85 packets of seeds distributed through the free Seed Library at the Worthen Library

180 seedlings donated by local gardeners to be raised in the community garden plots distributed directly to families in need and volunteer gardeners

350 packets of seeds sent home to elementary school students in the Islands through partnership with the Healthy Roots Collaborative

400 lbs of produce donated to local food shelves and meal programs so far

456 vegetable seedlings distributed directly to families in need and volunteer gardeners

It was exciting to see this program grow so quickly, and we hope that it will continue in years to come. If you’d like to learn more or participate, email guy@shlt.org.