Program provides fresh produce to food insecure families in Greater Gardner
The Fresh Box program distribution is supporting Greater Gardner families struggling with food insecurity.
The Gardner and Winchendon Community Action committees (CAC) are collaborating with Growing Places, a Leominster-based nonprofit, to create a bridge between local farmers and families struggling with food insecurity.
Ayn Yeagle, executive director of Growing Places, said the North Central Massachusetts area has over 200 local farms and yet several communities in the area are considered food deserts or have a good portion of the population as food insecure.
Yeagle said hundreds of residents in Greater Gardner are struggling to provide nutritious meals for their families. She said families living in food deserts look towards nonprofit organizations like local action committees for meal support.
The Fresh Box program is the newest effort to support local farmers and low-income families. Each box is filled with $45 worth of produce. Some of the farms participating include Buckhill Homestead Farm in Westminster, Sunny Knoll Farm in Westminster, Sunset View Farm in Winchendon, and Farming is Life in Winchendon.
How the Fresh Box program works
Every Tuesday, both Gardner and Winchendon CAC receive dozens of packed Fresh Boxes ready for residents to pick up. Winchendon CAC Executive Director Miranda Jennings said no identification or proof of income is needed to collect a box of produce. She said it is a first-come, first-serve program and the boxes are taken quickly.
"People love the Fresh Box packs and they are gone within an hour," she said. "We are so grateful for Growing Places. They do all of the sourcing, packing and delivery; we just hand them out."
Growing Places packs about 220 Fresh Box packages filled with locally sourced produce from 29 local farms in the North Central Mass. area. Almost 100 of those Fresh Boxes are delivered to Gardner and Winchendon every week.
Other organizations that get the Fresh Boxes are the Boys & Girls Club in Leominster and Fitchburg, the Spanish American Center in Leominster, and Jenny's Food Pantry in Lunenburg. During the academic school year, Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School is also part of the Fresh Box program.
The future of the program
Fresh Box is funded by a Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources grant and the grant contract ends in May 2024.
Because this fresh produce program is now an essential part of many communities in the Greater Gardner area, Yeagle said Growing Places will help transition the families that started out with Fresh Box into the SNAP/HIP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/Healthy Incentive Program) home delivery service.
"Right now, the grant covers the cost of the produce, packaging and delivery cost, we are also rely heavily on volunteers" she said. "After May 2024, people's SNAP/HIP will cover everything."
The summer is the biggest harvesting season for fruits and vegetables, which means the staff at Growing Places will need to get creative to provide families with produce during the winter.
Yeagle said the nonprofit staff is thinking of freezing, pickling and dehydrating the produce so it has a longer shelf life and families can enjoy produce all winter long.
Helping local farmers extend the growing season
The nonprofit is also helping local farmers apply for grants to fund the construction of high tunnels so they can grow certain crops year-round. High tunnels are a low-cost method that extends growing season for several crops. To build a high tunnel, farmers create a large tunnel over the crops with a couple of layers of greenhouse plastic.
"We also do crop planning with the farmers, and we identify what produce people in the region we serve like the best," she said. "This will be our first year with this program so we hope to get some feedback so we can improve our methods next year."
This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Fresh Box connects farmers and food insecure in Gardner, Winchendon
