New grant will help low-income people access local food

A new grant of $20,000 from the Allen Foundation arrived just at the right time for GardenShare.  These funds will be used over the next two years to subsidize low-income and working families to either purchase shares in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms, or to help those families purchase food at farmers markets.  In addition, the grant will support the distribution of farmers markets vouchers to children who receive backpacks of food from school.

We had 14 families on the waiting list for our CSA subsidy program for 2017.  While we have already served 30 other households with funds from other grants and individual donors, we had run out of funds to cover all who applied.  Happily, this grant means that we now have provided all 14 families on the waiting list with CSA assistance.

In addition, we had some funds to help families whose children receive backpacks of food from school during the summer, thanks to grants from the United Methodist Women and Stewart’s Shops.  But it was not enough to reach the three schools that we hoped to.  With this grant added to the mix, we distributed cards that can be redeemed at the farmers markets to students in the Canton Golden Bear Pack program, the Potsdam Snack Pack program, and the Massena Back the Pack program.  All three communities have farmers markets where families can use the cards to help purchase nutritious food while school is out for the summer.

GardenShare also has a new program in 2017 that will be funded by this grant.  In order to help lower-income and working families who do not receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called food stamps) benefits, GardenShare is implementing a subsidy for purchases at the farmers markets.  Families with annual incomes of approximately $50,000 or less can double their purchasing power at the farmers markets by buying cards that have a $10 value for just $5.   The cards are purchased from GardenShare and can be redeemed at the farmers markets in Canton, Gouverneur, Massena, and Potsdam.  Full details on eligibility and an application form are available at gardenshare.org  or by calling GardenShare at 315-261-8054.

The grant from the Allen Foundation is for two years and will support these same programs next growing season, though it does not cover the full cost of the programs.  GardenShare will seek other grants and donations to ensure the continuation this important work to help lower-income and working households obtain healthy food and to support local farmers.

Potsdam Snack Pack Program

The Potsdam Snack Packs program is a great example of what a person can accomplish with vision and determination. Laurell Brault began pursuing this program in April 2016 after observing that other St. Lawrence County schools such as Canton, Massena, and Ogdensburg had successful backpack programs and Potsdam did not. The need definitely exists in Potsdam; about 30 percent of students at Lawrence Avenue Elementary School are eligible for free or reduced lunch, and as of January, 100 elementary students are receiving weekly snack packages from the program. 

"The addition of the Snack Pack program is great news for the families at Lawrence Avenue. In our community we do not always know just how much a family might be struggling and we want them to know we see how hard they are working to provide for their children. We want to help families in any way we can to ensure are students are getting adequate nutrition," Lawrence Avenue Principal Jennifer Gray has stated.

This program receives no funding from the school district; it's entirely run by volunteer power. In particular, the Potsdam Lions Club has stepped up to provide assistance, and the program is housed at New Hope Community Church in Potsdam. GardenShare wants to be a part of the continued health of this program, which is why we're focusing on it, as well as Canton's Golden Bear Packs, for our Martin Luther King Jr. Day food drive this year. 

Please help GardenShare make Martin Luther King Jr. Day "a day on, not a day off" by collecting food to benefit these worthy programs! Food can be dropped off at our collection points between noon and 4:00 PM on Friday. Check out our website at www.gardenshare.org for specifics on what food is needed and where the collection points are located.

Canton Golden Bear Packs

The Golden Bear Packs program at Canton Central School will soon be celebrating its third anniversary. The first 25 packs were sent home on February 12, 2013 with Banford Elementary School students who needed healthy food to eat over the weekend.

Did you know that over one-third of students in the Canton Central School district qualify for free or reduced lunch? That means, according to the USDA, that those families, if there are four people in the household, are earning less than $44,965 per year (for reduced lunch) or $31,590 per year (for free lunch). Maintaining a household budget is not easy with income levels such as these, and Canton CSD (as have several other districts in St. Lawrence County) has recognized that without a secure source of healthy food, children can't be expected to perform well in school. As one of the school counselors explained to NPR in 2014, "I think a lot of our students worry about kind of grownup problems ... whether it be money and food and heat, and those kinds of things."

The students who benefit from Golden Bear Packs receive 10 items of healthy food each Friday, including breakfast, lunch, snacks, juice boxes, fresh fruit and more. Everything from whole wheat crackers to canned pasta might find its way into a pack. But of course, a program like this depends on the generous donations of the community.

GardenShare and SLU Campus Kitchens are happy to be able to support Golden Bear Packs through our Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service food drive on Monday, January 16th. Please visit the GardenShare website at www.gardenshare.org to learn more about what food is needed, then take some time on Monday to collect food in your neighborhood and bring it to the collection van on Main Street in Canton (next to the Canton Municipal Building) between noon and 4pm. Help us make it a day on, not a day off!

Source: http://www.gbfound.org/golden-bear-packs

MLK Day of Service

Did you know that Martin Luther King Jr. Day is the ONLY federal holiday to have official Congressional designation as a day of service? Since 1994, the Corporation for National and Community Service has been encouraging people across America to do something to help their communities – to make this holiday “a day on, not a day off.”

You might be embarrassed to learn that in 2016, New York State ranked 49^th out of 50 states and Washington DC in terms of numbers of residents who volunteered. Less than 20 percent of state residents volunteered in 2015, according to data collected by the Corporation for National and Community Service. In better news, however, one of the most popular volunteer activities in 2015 in New York State was “collect, prepare, distribute or serve food.” Hunger is something we can all understand … something that none of us want to experience.

GardenShare and SLU Campus Kitchens are doing their part to raise New York State’s rating for 2017! Won’t you join us? Take part in our food drive on Monday, January 16^th and help kids who receive healthy food from the Potsdam Snack Packs program and the Canton Golden Bear Packs program. Check out www.gardenshare.org for specifics on what food is needed and  how you can contribute. Let’s work together to make what Dr. King called a “beloved community”!

MLK Food Drive to benefit local backpack programs

In keeping with the MLK Day theme, "Make it a day on, not a day off," volunteers from GardenShare and SLU Volunteer Services in Potsdam and Canton are joining forces on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to help hungry students in their communities.

“We will be gathering and sorting food that will be donated to the Golden Bear Packs program at Canton Central School and to the Snack Pack program at Potsdam Central School,” explained Rhonda Rodriguez, Volunteer Coordinator for GardenShare. “We are asking community members, families, students, school groups, and service organizations to go door-to-door to collect the food.”

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service is a national movement, explained Ashlee Downing, director of volunteer services at St. Lawrence University. “This is a day when school is not in session and many people have the day off from work, a holiday for the majority of the community. It’s a great opportunity for families to come together to help others.”

The Golden Bear Packs program and the Snack Packs program are designed to provide healthy food to students over the weekend and during school vacations. The food supplements the meals that students receive in school during the week.

“It’s our hope that between now and Martin Luther King Jr. Day, people will make a point of stocking up on the specific foods that the programs are looking for, and have it ready when community members come knocking,” Rodriguez explained. “If it so happens that people have food and nobody knocks on their door, they can simply bring it to our central collection point in each town.”

On Martin Luther King Day, Monday, January 16, 2017, GardenShare volunteers will be collecting food at New Hope Community Church, 33 Grant Street, in Potsdam from 12:00 noon to 4:00 PM. Students from SLU Volunteer Services will have a food collection van located in the parking lot next to the Canton Municipal Building, 60 Main Street, during the same hours.

If community members wish to donate food but cannot do so on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, there will be an additional collection on Wednesday, January 18^th at Gunnison Memorial Chapel on the St. Lawrence University campus, during the multi-faith Service of Songs and Readings featuring the SLU choirs. Students from SLU Volunteer Services will be on hand to accept and sort food donations at the chapel.

Food needed for the Canton Golden Bear Packs program includes: single-serve boxes of unsweetened cereal, oatmeal packets, granola bars, cereal bars, peanut butter, plastic jars of jelly, canned pasta, canned tuna or chicken, soup, mac & cheese, canned vegetables, pudding cups, juice-packed fruit cups, trail mix, raisins, unsweetened applesauce, nuts, whole wheat crackers, microwave popcorn, and 100% fruit and vegetable juice boxes.

The Potsdam Snack Packs program also has specific needs, which include: fruit cups, hot chocolate, juice boxes (sugar free or reduced sugar), pretzels, Ramen noodles, breakfast bars, and small packs of almonds or mixed nuts.

Any food collected that does not work for the school programs will not go to waste, according to Ms. Rodriguez. “We’ll bring it to the Potsdam Neighborhood Center and to the Canton Church and Community Program for their food distribution,” she added.

“Everybody Eats – that’s what our agency is all about,” stated Ms. Rodriguez. “There was great awareness around the holiday season about how many hungry people there are in the North Country, but it’s important to remember that this need doesn’t end when the holidays end. That’s especially true for children, who can’t expect to do well in school if they don’t have enough healthy food to eat at home.”