State looks to prisons to support local food movement

Vermont Public Radio reports that in 2007, "lawmakers directed the Agency of Agriculture to review food-buying practices at state institutions." In response, the Agency appointed Helen Labun Jordan to "focus on the state's buying practices" and to "produce a report on the potential connections between agricultural producers, state government, and state institutions, such as the State Hospital, prisons, and the Veterans' Home." The report identified "barriers to acquiring local food" and determined that Vermont's nine correctional facilities could be "a potential market for Vermont farmers and food processors and state-sponsored farm-to-table initiatives." According to Jordan, "Correctional facilities are the primary place where Vermont government directly purchases food" and these facilities offer a "whole new frontier for the types of markets farmers can sell to." The St. Albans' Northwest Correctional facility serves as "a good example." The facility receives dairy products from the St. Albans Cooperative Creamery and "has a four-and-a-half acre garden that supplies up to 40,000 pounds of produce, half going to the local food shelf." Now the State is "exploring new routes to buy locally grown food": They are looking into creating more vegetable gardens on prison property and adding local food to prison menus.

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State hopes to boost school breakfast program

The Times Argus reports that this fall, "Vermont will become the fourth state in the nation to add funding that will allow low-income students to have free breakfasts." Indeed earlier this year, lawmakers added a provision to the state's education budget to pay for each family's share of the reduced-price breakfast program – about 30 cents per meal. This 30 cents is supplemented by the federal government's $1.05 per meal share. During the 2006-2007, "about 21,250 students in Vermont qualified for free meals." This year, that number grew to 21,954, and starting next year, "the state expects to offer 613,338 [free] breakfasts annually."

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Vermont food stamp use up

WCAX News reports that "the number of Vermonters signing up for food stamp benefits is at a 15-year high." According to State Representative Robert Dostis, the slowing economy and rising fuel and food costs have "forced more people to ask for help." In March, 56,000 people received food stamps.

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CSA movement grows

The Burlington Free Press explains that Community Supported Agriculture programs, or CSAs, are partnerships "between farmers and consumers whereby consumers buy shares in the farm and assume the risks and costs associated with farming. In exchange for their monetary support, the members receive a diverse selection of produce throughout the growing season that is generally well below retail cost." Notably, "farmers like CSAs because it gives them capital up front and a guaranteed income regardless of the growing season. Consumers like CSAs because they know who is growing their food and where it is being grown. CSAs also encourage consumers, or shareholders, to take a personal interest in the farm, thus helping forge lasting relationships between farmer and consumer."

Recently, CSAs have experienced tremendous growth. For example from 2007 to 2008, Chittenden County's CSA programs have increased their number of shares by 70% to 1700 shares. According to David Zuckerman, who launched a CAS program in 1999, the growth of the CSA movement can be attributed to four main factors: food scares and meat recalls; peak oil and energy consumption; fitness and healthy eating trends; and an awareness of the rural character of the state and the need to preserve it.

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Rising costs, stagnant wages fueling hunger inVermont

The Times Argus reports that two hundred hunger advocates gathered for the statewide Hunger Conference in Montpelier on Wednesday. The conference included a variety of workshops and was attended by the the Governor's Task Force on Hunger.

During the conference about one dozen participants told the Governor's Task Force that "hunger is growing" in Vermont. It was also noted that hunger "is affecting greater numbers of working people, that Vermonters are caught in a vise between rising costs and stagnant wages, and that [a] lack of public transportation prevents many of the hungry from getting to available food, " especially the elderly. 

The keynote address was delivered by Edward Cooney executive director of the Congressional Hunger Center. Cooney "observed that Vermont hunger advocates are doing many things right – energizing a wide variety of people and working on food security at the community level." He also "urged Vermonters to create a statewide coalition of hunger constituencies that would serve as a platform for working on specific issues at the community level."

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Report Gives Vermont Delegation High Grades for Poverty Votes

Boston.com reports that a new report by the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law has given "Vermont's congressional delegation high marks for its voting record on poverty issues." Indeed, "U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Peter Welch each got an A+ and Senator Patrick Leahy received an A." Notably, "Vermont is among just four states -- including Hawaii, Massachusetts and Rhode Island -- whose delegation received all As."

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Meals on Wheels helps homebound seniors

The Burlington Free Press reports that Meals on Wheels is a group that delivers hot meals to homebound seniors. The Essex chapter aids elders in six Chittenden County communities -- Essex Junction, Essex, Jericho, Underhill, Westford and Williston -- and the Burlington chapter aids elders in five Chittenden County communities -- Burlington, Charlotte, Shelburne, South Burlington and Winooski. The Essex chapter "puts out 107 hot meals daily", and last week the Burlington group delivered a record 2,159 meals.

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Meals on Wheels helps homebound seniors

The Burlington Free Press reports that Meals on Wheels is a group that delivers hot meals to homebound seniors. The Essex chapter aids elders in six Chittenden County communities -- Essex Junction, Essex, Jericho, Underhill, Westford and Williston -- and the Burlington chapter aids elders in five Chittenden County communities -- Burlington, Charlotte, Shelburne, South Burlington and Winooski. The Essex chapter "puts out 107 hot meals daily", and last week the Burlington group delivered a record 2,159 meals.

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Gleaning project brings fresh veggies to low-income tables

The Times Argus reports that Theresa Snow founded Salvation Farms, a gleaning project that "saves crops that would otherwise go to waste and makes them available to Vermonters in need." Notably over the past three years, Salvation volunteers have "gleaned more than 88,000 pounds of apples, beets, carrots, chard, collards, kale, green beans, garlic scapes, fennel, cucumbers, potatoes, winter and summer squash – more than 40 crops in all." The Farm recruits volunteers from high schools, colleges, correctional centers, a foster care program, and Lamoille County Mental Health" to harvest excess crops. The crops are then distributed to local emergency food shelves, nursing homes, senior meal sites, early learning centers and adult day care centers. The project, which is three years old, recently became a program of the Vermont Foodbank.

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Update on Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 10:07AM by VCF Staff

The Burlington Free Press reports that "the lagging economy has forced the [Vermont] Foodbank to find more creative ways to put food on its shelves, as more people request help and fewer can afford to donate." This year, the Foodbank has teamed up with Salvation Farms, a project that gleans produce and delivers that produce to those in need. Citing the number of local farms across the state, Doug O'Brien, the CEO of the Foodbank, said, "There is an untapped food source available in Vermont." Salvation Farms has helped tap that resource, "donating 88,000 pounds of fresh produce to 40 sites in the past three years." O'Brien noted that "more than 1 in 10 Vermonters qualify for additional food resources" and "an independent research survey conducted for the Foodbank indicated more than one-third of people the organization serves were forced to choose between fuel oil and food as prices spiked." Last year, the Foodbank "provided 6 million pounds of food to needy Vermonters last year through its member agencies."

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Nearly 14,000 items donated in food drive

The Rutland Herald reports that residents donated 13,975 nonperishable food items to the Pack the Paramount food drive. "The amount collected ranks second highest in the six years that Central Vermont Public Service, the Paramount Theatre, and radio stations WJJR and WSYB have sponsored the event, only topped by last year's total of 17,000 items." The items were donated to three local food shelves, the Rutland Community Cupboard, the Salvation Army, and BROC. According to Pat McKee, a volunteer at the Community Cupboard, "the food will help hundreds of families in the community." Notably, "the Community Cupboard usually distributes 10,000 to 15,000 food items a month."

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Warm Hands Warm Heart distributes 2,800 pieces of clothing to those in need

The Brattleboro Reformer reports that the "fourth annual Warm Hands Warm Heart campaign wrapped up this week after collecting and distributing more than 2,800 articles of clothing" to local families in need. The organization "collected 1,000 articles of clothing more than last year" and "credited areas businesses, churches and schools with actively soliciting donations of old clothing, as well as the aid organizations which distributed items to those in need." The organization now hopes to expand the project to other communities in Vermont and New Hampshire.

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Hannaford supermarket to donate 30,000 meals for low-income Vermonters

The Times Argus reports that Hannaford Supermarkets will "donate $250,000 of food to the Vermont Foodbank in connection with the opening of the chain's new 65,000-square-foot store in the Green Mountain Shopping Plaza in Rutland Town." On Saturday, February 23, 2008, "four Vermont Foodbank tractor trailers will load up with approximately 34,000 pounds, or 17 tons, of food from the former Hannaford store in the city." According to the Foodbank, this "donation is one of the largest the organization has received and will provide approximately 30,000 meals for low-income Vermonters." The donated perishable goods will include "meat, seafood, bakery and deli items, and fresh produce from the old store."

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Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger helps students learn about hunger issues

The Burlington Free Press reports that the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger has been visiting schools, such as the Bellwether School in Williston, to teach children about hunger.  For example during a snack time exercise, the Campaign presents youth with brown paper bags that are filled with varying amounts of pretzels. Some children do not receive any pretzels at all and must depend on their peers for food. The Campaign hopes that exercises like this will stimulate student thinking around food inequity issues at an early age. Notably, "one child in seven in Vermont does not have enough food to eat every day."

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Farmers seek to expand markets and improve diets

The Times Argus reports that at a workshop on "Developing Food Security in Vermont," around two dozen members of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont discussed ways to get "nutritious locally grown food to people who need it." The workshop attendees noted that increasing the number of special coupons that cut-rate prices for produce and expanding the number of farmers' markets that accept electronic EBT cards would help ensure that more low-income Vermonters have access to healthy food. The workshop attendees also agreed that a lack of transportation is one of the "greatest nutritional barriers faced by low-income Vermonters."

Currently, several Vermont programs help low-income Vermonters access locally-grown, healthy food. These programs include:

1. The Senior Farm Share Program which "funds weekly shares of fruits and vegetables through local Community Supported Agriculture farms" or CSAs. This program "is available to residents of senior housing projects whose coordinators have paired their sites with a CSA."
2. The Farm-to-Family Farmers' Market program which "provides members with a booklet of 10 coupons worth $3 each that can be used to buy fresh fruits and vegetables at participating farmers' markets."
3. The Vermont Farm-to-Family program which "makes $30 coupon books for fresh produce available to those enrolled in the Women, Infants and Children program and to other non-elderly families."
4. And the Vermont Farm Share Program which "subsidizes CSA shares for low-income families."

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Transportation is major barrier to accessing food

The Times Argus reports that at the Hunger Council of Washington County meeting in early December 2007, meeting attendees identified that "transportation is a major barrier to accessing food." For example without a car, individuals have difficultly "getting to a store or community meal sites," and in some rural areas "public transportation is unavailable" or "difficult to use." At the meeting, Neale Lunderville, the Vermont Secretary of Transportation, stressed that public transportation is one means of getting people from one place to another.  For example he said that "Vermont does a good job of connecting volunteer drivers with people who need rides" and that "private groups such as Good News Garage play [an important role] in providing affordable cars for low-income Vermonters." He also said that the Transportation Agency is hoping to expand their services to low income Vermonters by "looking at online systems that can list riders' needs, along with routes and available volunteers, so if someone needs to get to the pharmacy or grocery store twice a week" he or she can get there.

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