Two part blog series by the Kearsarge Food Hub
Here at the Kearsarge Food Hub (KFH), we’re on a mission to reinvigorate our community within a restorative local food system.
One of the main pillars of this work is increasing food access - and healthy food choices - to support both food and nutrition security for more neighbors. To read more about the critical need to increase food access, read part one of this blog series: What’s the State of Hunger in NH.
To that end, it is now a tradition at the KFH to host a Food Drive every February through our own Sweet Beet Market.
The food drive is a way to invite our community in to contribute to greater food security for Kearsarge area neighbors, especially during the chilly and challenging post-holiday months where food donations tend to decline.
February food drive love at Sweet Beet Market, an important way to have shoppers support food access for more neighbors.
It’s really easy to join in, simply purchase 3+ eligible items from Sweet Beet Market to donate, and get 10% off your entire purchase. We’ve highlighted things in the market like pasta and sauce, beans and rice, peanut butter, natural sweeteners, and more regionally sourced nonperishable goods that provide nutritious meals.
Items collected through the food drive are channeled through Kearsarge Food Hub’s dynamic food donations program, which provides locally and regionally sourced foods to seven food pantry partners all year long.
We also use these items to stock our own on-site Community FREEdge, an open resource where anyone can access the food they need, any time, no questions asked. In collaboration with the Bradford Food pantry, we stock the FREEdge six times a week with fresh produce, grocery items, and meals. Since it’s anonymous, we don’t know exactly how many people use the FREEdge, but we do know it’s emptied every time we fill it. Neighbors have come to rely on this resource as a place to get food, even if they just need to use it once or twice to get through a tough time.
The February Food Drive is just one part of the food donations program at the Kearsarge Food Hub (KFH). It is essential for collecting non-perishable foods to channel to neighbors in need through the winter months, but our food donations are flowing all year long. Three key elements make our food donations program unique at the Kearsarge Food Hub:
The vast majority of what is donated is high quality, fresh produce, in high demand by food security partners. While many organizations focus on fighting hunger (which is an important fight!) we’re thinking about how to address both hunger and nutrition at the same time.
Most of products we donate are purchased from our local and regional food system, with the exception of foods that are gleaned or rescued. This means that this program provides direct and significant financial support going to our local farmers and producers.
Finally, we only donate what our food security partners order. We do not send only what is leftover or in surplus. This allows people more choice in the food products they consume, and minimizes the burden of food waste for food pantries that already struggle with limited capacity.
It’s estimated from our local food pantry partners that food donations from the Kearsarge Food Hub reached over 4,000 clients they serve throughout 2023. That is a huge impact; overall this program grew by 30% from 2022 to 2023. Stay tuned for more astounding information on the reach of Kearsarge Food Hub’s food donations program in our upcoming 2023 Annual Report.
In the meantime, be sure to head over to Sweet Beet Market for your groceries and get 3 extra items for the food drive. We can’t ensure our food pantries and FREEdge are fully stocked this time of year without you! All of our food security programming is made possible by community support.
Can't make it in to the market? Contribute online by purchasing items in bulk or singly at our dedicated Food Drive store here.