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Community Shares Fund Report

Sharing fresh veg in our community

The news is hard to read these days. One of the things that strikes me over and over is the number of people facing food instability due to war, inflation, housing prices & more. I thought you might like to hear how, in a small but significant way, your support of our farm has helped improve food access for people in our region.

What is the Community Shares Fund?

The Fund is made up entirely of CSA member donations, paying our farm to grow vegetables and give them to households at discounted prices. Thanks to your astounding donations, we were able to increase the reach of our Community Shares Fund for the third year in a row. Donations to the Fund are used to grow free or discounted produce that make this farm's fresh veggies accessible to many who wouldn't otherwise afford them. Essentially...You pay us to grow & donate food.

Last year we spent $13K of Community Shares Fund donations, and this year the total was just shy of $15K.

Cambridge Food Bank

The Food Bank of Waterloo Region statistics show a 256% increase in the number of households accessing food assistance from July-September this year over the same period in 2022. The Cambridge Food Bank calculated that almost half of the households they served so far this year are new patrons. There are a LOT of people in our Region struggling to access sufficient food.

We grew $14,500 of produce for the Cambridge Food Bank this year: $4,000 purchased 0y them, and $10,500 paid for by you. That is ~7,000lb of fresh veggies!

Most of the produce gets distributed through their Mobile Food Market - a traveling market that offers a weekly mixed food basket at highly discounted prices. For just $5, customers are able to pick up a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables with a market value of $15-25. Customers who can afford it are encouraged to pay at higher rates. Produce not distributed through the Mobile Market gets used for:

Food Hampers
Frozen, prepared meals
Preserves to sell as a fundraiser which in turn generates revenue for Mobile Market food purchasing.

Here's the top reasons we LOVE our partnership with the Cambridge Food Bank :

Gets fresh produce to people through channels they already access
Stretches donations further by valuing crops at wholesale instead of retail pricing
Decreases waste by distributing the crops we have an abundance of, allowing us to harvest and distribute food that would otherwise compost in the fields or languish guiltily in your fridges.
The Cambridge Food Bank was named one of the Top 10 Impact Charities in Canada for 2023 by Charity Intelligence. (Yes, one of the 10 most impactful charities across the entire country!!) You can read more about why here.

Sliding Scale CSA Shares

$4,200 of the Fund was used to offer discounts to CSA share prices. This year, 13 households paid on a Sliding Scale system. Everyone pays at least 25%, but each household's arrangements are individually determined based on their stated ability to pay.

This allows a more diverse population of people to join the CSA Community.

Youth Food Markets

This program - part of the Youth in Food Systems project - creates opportunities for youth to connect with food systems, learn sustainable practices, and explore careers in food and agriculture. Our Fund provided a 50% discount for produce the youth bought to supplement what they grew themselves.

Vegetables were sold at community markets, primarily in low-income
neighbourhoods with a dual goal of providing business experience for the
youth, and affordable food for market-goers. Learn More

Fresh Food Program

What happens if you don't pick up your CSA share? This is where it goes! The Fresh Food Program is a grassroots community organization that collects donations of fresh food (mostly from vendors at the Kitchener Farmers Market) to distribute to people in Kitchener - especially those who have limited access to other community food distribution programs.

I recently received the following note from Chris Varga, one of the key program organizers:
"Our program has been limping along somewhat in the last few months due to lower volume of donations from vendors, all the while that demand for our services is way up - as is food bank use in general. All that to say that your weekly greens and garden-grown additions have been not only wonderful, but often the missing item as we often have no other salad items at all besides your donation. You can imagine how appreciative people have been for that. I want to stress that ALL the people in our program are people who can't afford to purchase food - fresh or otherwise. We are hugely appreciative of your fresh food additions to this community program and I assure you that they have upped the health quotient of a lot of people."

We estimate that ~$6,000 of produce was donated to this program in the form of missed CSA shares and Choice Table extras.

OVER $20K of Fertile Ground Produce

got to tables in our local community

as a result of your donations.

THANK YOU!

(and let's do it again next year)

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