Green Mountain Farm-to-School Receives Grant to Deliver Local Food to Craftsbury and Albany Food Share Programs

GMFTS and the “neighbors to neighbors” task force at the weekly Craftsbury & Albany Food Share. Photo Courtesy of Karen Gowen Photography.

CRAFTSBURY, VT
Contact: Catherine Cusack, Executive Director
October 8, 2020

The Green Mountain Fund of the Vermont Community Foundation has awarded a $5,000 grant to Green Mountain Farm-to-School (GMFTS) to support the purchase and delivery of local food for the Craftsbury and Albany food share program. The deliveries will be facilitated by GMFTS’s local food hub, Green Mountain Farm Direct, that partners with more than 40 local farms and producers and serves as a mission-driven food aggregation and distribution service.

Food share program managers can order different local food products as they see fit to meet the demand they are seeing among members of their communities – delivered right to their door. The items available for delivery range from fresh fruits and vegetables to meat, bread, dairy, eggs, and maple.

It is estimated that the number of food insecure persons in Orleans County has risen 44% as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. The goal of this project is to provide these vulnerable populations with access to healthy, local food, preventing adverse health outcomes and nutritional gaps. By sourcing 100% local food for this initiative, GMFTS is supporting the region’s small farms and producers – keeping dollars in Vermont and stimulating local economic recovery.

Farm Direct food has been distributing local food to the charitable food system in the NEK since March in response to the COVID-19 crisis and rising food insecurity.

To make a donation to the Craftsbury/Albany food share please contact Catherine Cusack at ccusack@gmfts.org.

Learn more about all of GMFTS’s COVID-19 response work at: http://greenmountainfarmtoschool.org/2021-redesign/covid-19-relief/