Healthy Families ~ Family Farms
 |
|
Raising money to
help feed the hungry while
supporting family farmers.
|
Through a partnership involving
local churches, civic groups,
Appalachian Harvest
and the Southwestern Virginia Second Harvest
Food Bank, Healthy Families ~ Family Farms
assists thousands of families in need, while
helping to create markets for 30 family farmers
in southwest Virginia and northeast Tennessee.
Feeding the Hungry, Helping our Neighbor
In its first year, Healthy
Families raised a little more than $3,000 and
distributed more than 5 tons of local produce.
In 2004, nearly $10,000 was raised, purchasing
and distributing almost 15 tons of produce to
several thousand area households. More than 40
individuals, churches and other groups
contributed to that fund.
How does Healthy Families ~
Family Farms work?
Growers
in the
Appalachian Harvest
network raise a wide range
of organic vegetables such as tomatoes, lettuce,
peppers, cucumbers, potatoes, etc. The farmers
have some produce that cannot meet the strict
aesthetic standards of buyers. These are called
“seconds”. Instead of throwing out the seconds,
farmers sell it to Healthy Families ~ Family
Farms at a discounted price.
 |
With
money raised from contributions, the
discounted produce is purchased by Healthy
Families ~ Family Farms and then distributed by
the Second Harvest Food Bank to 120 community
food pantries located in nine counties. Like
most regional food banks, Second Harvest has
little money to buy fresh produce. Gary
Mitchell, the area supervisor for the Second
Harvest Food Bank says, “we don’t get as much
healthy food as we’d like, especially fresh
fruits and vegetables."
|
By
supplying produce to needy families throughout
southwest Virginia, the nutritional quality of
their food is greatly improved. Because the
produce is raised locally, it is delivered to
the food pantries more quickly and is much
fresher.
100%
of all contributions are used to purchase
produce from local farmers.
|
Family
farmers receive income for produce that otherwise would be wasted, improving their
economic well-being and helping them to stay on
the land.
|
 |
Helping Needy Families
Hunger is on the rise in
Appalachian Virginia, where one out of five
families lives below the poverty level. “Being
able to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to
so many families has been a real blessing”, says
Gary Mitchell of the Food Bank.
-
The S.W. VA Second Harvest Food
Bank provides food for approximately 312,000
different people annually.
-
21% of households stated their
children were hungry but that they could not
afford more food.
-
46.3% had to choose between
paying for food or paying for medicine or
medical care
-
In 2003-2004 the Food Bank
distributed over 7.3 million pounds of food,
produce and related products.
Preserving
Family Farms
In southwest Virginia, each
county loses about ten farms a year. Farmers
struggle to make a living to keep the family
farm. Low prices for their crops and high costs
of chemicals and fertilizers make for hardship
on small farms. Changes in the federal tobacco
program have also had an effect.
 |
“I used to raise over 100,000
pounds of tobacco. Over the last few years, my
allotment had dwindled down to less than 10,000
pounds”, says Martin Miles of Lee County,
Virginia.
“With the buyout, tobacco’s gone
for a lot of farmers,” Martin says, “and it’s
hard to make money raising conventional
vegetables, when produce from Mexico is so
cheap.” Martin is hopeful about organic
produce, where prices are a little better.
“We’ve seen hard times before,” Martin says,
“but it’s never been harder to make a living as
a farmer than it is now.”
|
How you can help
Healthy Families ~ Family Farms
needs your help. Your charitable contribution
will help sustain family farmers in the
Appalachian region, while feeding hungry people.
We welcome tax-deductible
contributions from individuals as well as
organizations and groups.
100% of all contributions are used to purchase
produce from local farmers for needy families.
We offer two forms of payment. To
pay with a credit card call the ASD office at
(276) 623-1121 or make your
check
payable to Healthy Families, Family Farms and
mail to:
Appalachian Sustainable
Development - P.O. Box 791 - Abingdon, VA. 24212