SUSTAINABILITY

SUSTAINABILITY BLOG

  • About
    • Meet Our Staff
    • Our History
    • News >
      • Awards & Publications
    • Contact Us >
      • New Vendor Application
  • Initiatives
    • Purchasing
    • Low Carbon Dining
    • Waste Reduction
    • Prioritizing Real Food
    • Green Cleaning
  • Permaculture
    • How to Get Involved
    • History
    • Schedule a Tour
    • Our Gardens >
      • Franklin
      • Berkshire
      • Hillside
      • Hampshire
    • Medicinal Plant Guide >
      • Local Herbal Resources
      • Vocabulary
    • UMass Student Farmers Market
    • Donate Today
    • Annual Reports >
      • 2018
      • 2019
      • 2020
      • 2021
      • 2022
    • Local Permaculture Resources
  • Resources
    • How-To Guide for Food Service
    • How To Eat Sustainably on Campus
    • Low Carbon Dining
    • Virtual Gatherings
  • Events
  • Blog

11/13/2018

Food For All Market

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
Student Farm's fresh food drive signage at their Farm Stand.
On November 9th, the Student Farmers’ Market held a Food For All Market with an attempt to address the stigma on hunger around campus. UMass Permaculture, the Food For All Program, and the Student Farm teamed up to organize this exciting Market, which featured a fresh and canned food drive, opportunities to engage in conversation with knowledgeable students about local food security, and information about resources available on campus and in the area for people experiencing food insecurity. 
Over 200 lbs of butternut, leeks, potatoes, kale, and other fresh produce was donated to the Amherst Survival Center and Not Bread Alone during the market's fresh food drive. The Student Farm encouraged customers to "Buy one, Give one," where they would buy twice as much as they needed for themselves and donate the extra. ​They also asked their 115 CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) members 
Picture
​to donate produce that they could spare from their share that week to the food drive. Most of fresh food donated was provided by Student Farm CSA members. Canned food donations were brought to the Student Food Pantry on campus. ​
Throughout the market, community members talked about food recovery and food access over free soup and cider. UMass Permaculture provided free sweet potato soup using gleaned sweet potatoes from Czajkowski Farm in Hadley and fresh pressed apple cider with Student Farm and Cold Spring Orchard apples. The Food For All Program handed out the rest of the sweet potatoes their practicum class had gleaned together a few weeks before for free along with free butternut squash donated by the Student Farm.
Picture
Dan Bensonoff, UMass Permaculture, serves free gleaned sweet potato soup.
Picture
Liam Davis and Courtney Spera admire the work of their peers before the market begins.
Food For All also set up a booth with a detailed map of the food system displayed next to a poster listing all of the resources available for students and community members to access free food on campus and in the area. Student Farmer Jordan Lake created a zine that compiled all of the resources available on campus that were handed out for free throughout the market as well. Food For All students conversed with market-goers and invited them to ask themselves what they could do to support their food insecure peers.
Picture
Kayleigh Boucher (right), program manager of Food For All, helps a community member sort through gleaned sweet potatoes to take home.
Most people are surprised by the high rates of food insecurity on this campus but up to 23% of undergraduate students and 26% of graduate students cut or skipped a meal because they didn’t have enough money to buy food (Clark & Harris, 2015). It is vitally important that we keep talking about food access, work to reduce the stigma around hunger, stand up for each others' right to food, and keep everybody fed!
Some simple ways that anyone can help:
​
-- Share the food resources that are available and distribute that information through any channels that you have access to by checking out this website. 
--Download the Food For All Zine and distribute widely! 
-- Include resources or the Food For All Zine on campus on your syllabus (or ask your professors to). 
-- If you have a meal plan, join the Need a Swipe? Got a Swipe? Facebook page and post when you have extra swipes and dining dollars to share!
Picture
Food For All with bins of gleaned sweet potatoes for the Food For All Market.
-- Sign up to help the Food Recovery Network donate food from the Dining Commons to local relief organization Craig's Doors.
​-- Volunteer or donate shelf-stable food items to the Student Food Pantry on campus and spread the word to people you know about their new location and hours. 
For a list of available food resources on and off campus, or to download the Food For All Zine, click here!

Endless gratitude to Food For All students Kayleigh Boucher, Melissa Bonaccorso, Braeden Leinhart, Courtney Spera, Jackie Williams, Alex Androsko, and Liam Davis, as well as Student Farmers Avi Flynn, Jordan Lake, Lee Mcloughlin, Carly Brand, and Jackie Montminy, who made this event happen. 

Share

0 Comments
Details

    UMass dininG

    Entries are submitted by project staff and UMass students.

    CATEGORIES

    All
    Farmer Of The Week
    Food
    Food Hub Diaries
    On The Ground
    Sustainability
    UMass Amherst
    UMass Dining

    Archives

    May 2022
    January 2022
    November 2020
    September 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

UMASS DINING . UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST . AMHERST, MA 01003
phone: 413-545-8682 | www.umassdining.com
  • About
    • Meet Our Staff
    • Our History
    • News >
      • Awards & Publications
    • Contact Us >
      • New Vendor Application
  • Initiatives
    • Purchasing
    • Low Carbon Dining
    • Waste Reduction
    • Prioritizing Real Food
    • Green Cleaning
  • Permaculture
    • How to Get Involved
    • History
    • Schedule a Tour
    • Our Gardens >
      • Franklin
      • Berkshire
      • Hillside
      • Hampshire
    • Medicinal Plant Guide >
      • Local Herbal Resources
      • Vocabulary
    • UMass Student Farmers Market
    • Donate Today
    • Annual Reports >
      • 2018
      • 2019
      • 2020
      • 2021
      • 2022
    • Local Permaculture Resources
  • Resources
    • How-To Guide for Food Service
    • How To Eat Sustainably on Campus
    • Low Carbon Dining
    • Virtual Gatherings
  • Events
  • Blog