This past year, GMFTS has partnered with Salvation Farms to promote greater access to fresh, locally grown food. This partnership has enhanced our Market Basket table, which provides free produce to all Lunchbox program visitors. As of July 29th, 329 lbs of gleaned produce from Salvation Farms has been distributed from the Market Basket table. Recipes are also available to take, so that community members can try new foods and new ways of preparing them.
This partnership came to fruition when our previous AmeriCorps member, Ciara, began working at Salvation Farms last summer. Ciara now serves as the Gleaning Coordinator for the Northeast Kingdom, advancing Salvation Farms’ mission of distributing agricultural surplus to the charitable food system.
GMFTS is currently exploring more ways to expand on this new partnership to enhance food security, increase access to local foods, mitigate food waste, and teach youth about community service. This past spring GMFTS launched a Youth Community Cooking Club pilot program for 6th-8th graders in Orleans, through which youth prepared a variety of seasonal, nutritious meals for the Orleans Community Food Shelf, hosted by the Orleans Federated Church. 155 lbs worth of local ingredients used in the pilot program were donated from Salvation Farms. In the 2024/25 school year, GMFTS aims to bring this afterschool program to two additional Northeast Kingdom schools and incorporate a new element of experiential learning where students are brought on farm field trips to lend a hand with gleaning the produce they will use in the meals they make.
