BRATTLEBORO — Retreat Farm, a nonprofit dedicated to connecting people to the land and to one another, has received a $35,000 grant from the Gannett Family Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation to support the farm's efforts to address food insecurity in the wake of COVID-19.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the farm launched an emergency food pantry and ramped up its production of vegetables and meat to share directly with people in need and through several food pantry partners throughout the community.
With the Gannett Family Fund's support, the program will expand in the coming year with the introduction of a pay-what-you-can farmstand.
When COVID-19 hit, the farm immediately turned its attention to addressing the financial stress and food insecurity that was made worse by the pandemic.
The farm turned its attention to the struggle of local families to put food on the table.
“First, we launched a food pantry to supplement people's food budgets, and then we began growing as much food as possible on our lands to donate to people in need,” CEO Buzz Schmidt said in a news release.
More than 600 families and seniors have received bags of eggs, vegetables, fruit, and healthy staples from the Retreat Farm and other local farms over the 32 weeks of this program.
The farm produced over 10,000 pounds of vegetables, flowers, and pastured meat that were shared with the community through the Retreat Farm's 65-family food pantry and through partnerships with the Vermont Foodbank, the food shelf at Westgate Apartments, Everyone Eats!, the Windham Southeast School District's Summer Meals Program, and the SUSU Collective's 25-family BIPOC CSA.
Retreat Farm plans to continue to support families in need to the best of their ability through the winter. If you, or someone you know, is in need, contact the farm at 802-490-2270.