Feeding the Community, Feeding the Economy 2.0

Feeding the Community, Feeding the Economy 2.0 takes our initiative to the next level as we strive to meet the food needs of vulnerable households in our community while continuing to support local businesses. The project provides weekly food shares to 20 households in the Windham community who have been impacted by COVID-19, who have lost income, are homebound, or have limited access to other resources. Grow Windham and the WAIM community garden will be supplying weekly food boxes for 15 weeks, filled with produce grown in their community gardens, bread, milk and non-perishables from local pantries, and  other supplemental items that can not be grown or sourced through these avenues.  Your contribution will support purchasing these items and precooked meals from local grocery stores, bodegas, and restaurants that have in turn lost business due to COVID-19.  Your dollars are particularly needed at this time when food bank supplies are greatly depleted. Please join us to both support our local food economy and help feed your neighbors.

20 local households have been identified in our community as needing extra assistance due to COVID-19. These families are homebound, have lost income, or are immunocompromised, and/or lack access to other resources and transportation. 

Surveys were distributed to these families to identify the number of people in the household, dietary restrictions, and food preferences. Households will complete a weekly “shopping list” to identify their needs. 

Grow Windham and the WAIM community garden have committed to donating the food grown in the Lauter Park growing spaces to provide these families with 15 weeks of produce based on their household size and preferences. 

Local pantries such as the Covenant Soup Kitchen, Access Agency, and Salvation Army, have also agreed to contribute additional food such as bread, milk, meat, and non-perishables to these boxes.

The Windham Community Food Network will organize the collection and distribution to “shareholders”. However, in particular, due to high demand at local food banks, there are many items that can not be sourced locally or reliably through the pantries or gardens. The Windham Community Food Network is raising money to fill these widening gaps with items purchased from local grocery stores and with prepared meals from local restaurants as well. 

This project will begin on June 22nd and run for 15 weeks through the end of September.

Access to food - healthy, culturally-appropriate food - is a human right. Unfortunately COVID-19 has left many families struggling to get by with even fewer resources than usual.

By offering a combination of local produce, non-perishables, other groceries and prepared meals in a weekly delivery system we are not only helping families have access to culturally appropriate food, in an atmosphere of dignity and respect, we are also supporting our local food system businesses and nonprofits who have suffered a great deal during the pandemic too.