During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic nonprofit AdkAction teamed up with Hub on the Hill commercial kitchen/local food distributor to put together emergency food packages (EFP) with a week’s worth of locally produced food and ready-to-eat meals.
To date, over 2,300 food packages or about 35,500 meals, have been delivered to the doorsteps of local families in need, accomplished through a successful crowdfunding campaign, individual donors and Adirondack Foundation’s SUN Fund. Roughly 20 farms and 75 farmworkers have been supported by this project, putting more than $100,000 into the local agricultural economy.
AdkAction and partners have been awarded $225,000 to continue the Emergency Food Packages project. With support from Adirondack Foundation, Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, and New York State Health Foundation (NYSHealth), AdkAction announced in a news release that the “Emergency Food Packages Project will continue to provide healthy, locally grown food to low-income and vulnerable Adirondack residents as the pandemic continues to diminish food access.”
Going forward, AdkAction and the Hub on the Hill will create an additional 2,000 Emergency Food Packages to be delivered between now and Oct. 1, then transition to a model of making the food packages available for purchase from the Hub’s Mobile Market, allowing participants to buy the food packages at a steeply discounted price using SNAP and food incentives. AdkAction is piloting a new incentive program, “Fair Food Pricing” to further subsidize the cost of food packages. At the end of the day, SNAP users will be able to buy local food for up to 65% less than the retail price, but farmers will still receive 100% of their market value for the products. This next phase of the project hopes to create a reliable market for area farmers and a stable and affordable outlet for low-income and vulnerable Adirondack residents to purchase fresh food. The extended program will run until December 31, 2020.
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