Feed the People and Save the Farms

press release: Buy One For A Neighbor  is launching an emergency food access appeal to feed local families and save local farms. For the last two seasons, Buy One For A Neighbor has staffed booths at local farmers' markets and asked market shoppers to buy and immediately donate an extra bunch or bag of something they like to share. The produce donated was distributed to a wide range of pantries, meal sites and even directly to the doors of low-income families living in Madison’s Darbo-Worthington neighborhood.

We created a new revenue stream for market farmers of shoppers buying for immediate donation to us. With the new growing season dawning, many market farmers will likely suffer substantial hardship if markets are canceled or customer spending plummets. Combined with increased food insecurity as the hard times spread, we know many neighbors will need help feeding their families and local farmers may have food they need to sell.

While some more affluent customers may be able to access food from local farms through online delivery services, low-income families will have increasing challenges trying to access the food they need. Buy One For A Neighbor is already working in collaboration with key community partners to make sure local produce is available to local low income families during this season and beyond. We are appealing to our friends and supporters for the resources that will allow us to Feed the People and Save the Farms.

For example, we’re working with local veterans to get boots on the ground to collect and distribute food. The Darbo Pantry Project , which has a proven method for delivering bags of produce directly to low income households, is ramping up its capacity to replicate their model to serve families in other neighborhoods. We also work with a broad network of food access groups including Healthy Food For All, Community Action Coalition, Madison Area Food Pantry Gardens and many others to provide low income families with access to healthy food choices.

We know what to do and we have the people who can make it happen. While we always need more volunteers, we are urgently appealing for money to create an emergency food access fund and begin paying farmers for their produce. If we can meet or surpass our goal, we can start purchasing stuff immediately and even contract with farmers now to encourage them to produce more not less this season.

For many, many years, local farmers have generously donated surplus food at the end of local markets to help those who can't afford to shop there. These hard working farmers toil and serve to ensure local food access and long term food security. While there's no doubt many would give all they have to keep people from going hungry, without financial support, many of these farmers may go bankrupt and just disappear this very season.

We’re appealing to you specifically to Buy One For A Neighbor now, or buy 100 if you can, to lock in a fair share of local food production for area needy families. Not only will your support help farmers feed families but it will ensure a more resilient and robust local food system into the future. It's not just an investment in equality and justice in our community but also plants the seeds for greater collaboration and cooperation in an increasingly uncertain future.