Give Back NY Feeds Our Communities!
The Farmers Market Federation of NY would like to thank all the Farmers Markets, farmers, vendors and shoppers who participated with Give Back NY for our celebration of Farmers Market Week. We are pleased to hear from many of you about how Give Back helped not only create awareness among market goers of local food programs helping feed the community, but provided a great boost by way of donations of funds and food to help families in need.
Here are just a few of the Give Back comments and stories shared by Market Managers:
Margaret O’Neill of Rochester Public Market
While we were at first hesitant to take on “one more project” during the busy summer season, we were pleasantly surprised by the community’s enthusiasm and the positive response to the food program we partnered with.
The program was thrilled that we selected them and we were AMAZED at the level of giving. We took in $1,875 in donated Credit/Debit tokens. Plus our Market director secured an anonymous donor who provided a match of up to $1,000. So in total we are donating $2,875 to this local food program.
Our donations ranged from $5 to $200. Several of our SNAP customers made donations, which warmed my heart. We had in the range of 40-50 total donors. One customer asked if we could make this an ongoing effort – and we might!
Ellen Hall, Manager of Aurora Farmers Market
Our Give Back New York food drive was a success. We had a table on two days, August 1 and August 8, since our market is only on Saturdays for four hours. Both days we received generous donations from produce and baked goods vendors. We also had donations from customers' homes. People wanted to give cash donations, so we found a box the first day and a jar on the 8th. We collected $158.25 for the Pantry!
The Farmers Market itself donated a case of fair trade coffee to the Pantry purchased from the one charity that operates in our market, the San Pedro Sister Community Project. For years, Aurora has been a partner to the San Pedro, El Salvador community. I did not want the Sister Community Project to think they had to donate since they are a charity, so the Market purchased the coffee from them to donate.
I am glad we participated. There is a real commitment to the King Ferry Food Pantry in this area. Thanks for thinking of this great idea!
We heard from many of you who wrote in your surveys about the outpouring of support in your communities and that customers enjoyed connecting with local ways to give back. Food pantries reported that being hosted by the market made them feel closer to their community and could talk to folks about the services and programs they provide. Some organizations who already partner with local markets regularly said that the weekend was the highest donation reached. One market said what they liked most was the increase in customers to the market and other vendors who joined that day and that we should make this an annual program!
Photo courtesy of Peekskill Farmers Market
All in all, from what we gathered from many of you – and what we hoped might be an outcome of Give Back NY, is that it launches an ongoing collaboration, partnership or relationship of farmers markets with food programs that help feed our communities.
To that end, we will be revamping our Give Back NY toolkit to be used for an anytime Give Back event or ongoing program. So be sure to stay tuned for the new toolkit!
We at the Federation appreciate and celebrate our markets every day! We are happy to know that the connections made and awareness created by hosting local food programs at your markets have created lasting impressions on our market community.