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Food, music and dancing isn’t an unusual mix at The Livery in Norwood, but last Friday, the evening included a new short film, pizza, awards and music with local roots from George Thorneycroft’s band, Desiderata, during the Fresh Food Hub’s celebration fundraiser.
“It was a great community party and we had about 160 people come through the door,” said the organization’s founder Leila Seraphin.
The evening’s proceeds help support the Fresh Food Hub’s many programs, including the Norwood Food Pantry and Totes for Hope. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and the weekly farmers’ market in Norwood are two other services.
Since taking the Norwood Food Pantry under its umbrella just over a year ago, the Fresh Food Hub has continued to grow its services in a number of ways. For one, volunteers grow food for the pantry at the Norwood Community Garden Pantry Plot and include locally-grown food in the weekly distribution.
Last year, the Hub restarted the backpack program, also known as Totes for Hope, a Food Bank of the Rockies service with additional local funding from the Telluride Foundation.
Totes for Hope has been available for the past year. Food Bank of the Rockies fills bags and delivers them to Norwood where Hub staff members supplement them before taking the bags into the elementary school every week for 50 students. Middle and high school students may opt in to Totes for Hope by talking with Sarah Franklin in the Norwood School office.
Fresh Food Hub board member Samantha Andrews of Bird House Farm organizes summer and winter CSA, and some of that food also goes to the pantry and to the food bags for the elementary school.
“Thanks to Sam Andrews for running an amazing summer program again. She built our CSA and market programs from the ground up,” said Seraphin.
Andrews is stepping down from that program and the Hub is beginning to look for an executive director. Just this past week, the organization received funding to help that happen, but more funding will be needed.
“That executive director leadership component is really important to streamline and make sure we’re responding to need as it comes up,” Seraphin said.
Need is something the organization is continually assessing.
“Both need and funding are constantly shifting,” Seraphin added.
The big shift in funding right now is the loss of COVID money, explained Gabriela Garayar, senior development manager for Food Bank of the Rockies Western Slope, who supplies the Norwood Food Pantry and others with weekly groceries.
The distribution center serves 13 counties on the Western Slope through 115 hunger relief partners like the Norwood Food Pantry.
“We have great, generous donors and diverse donations,” Garayar said. “But the expiration of COVID-era funding is impacting our operations and hunger relief partners. We and our partners are also seeing an increase in demand.”
She added that, while everyone knew the COVID funding was temporary, everyone also anticipated that the need would drop. It hasn’t.
“The need has continued to grow,” Garayar said. “On the Western Slope, one in eight people are experiencing food insecurity. Statewide, it’s one in nine.”
Garayar added, “The most impactful way people can really respond is through donations. Every dollar donated to Food Bank of the Rockies Western Slope equals three meals.”
Volunteering also helps, and the Fresh Food Hub board members showed their appreciation on Friday night, thanking their staff, pantry volunteers, and The Pantry Coalition.
The board also showed a new short film about the Hub, which will soon be available on their website.
Food pantry distribution is on Fridays from 3-6 p.m. Totes go home with Norwood School students on Thursdays and winter CSA signup begins in October. For more information on the Hub’s programs, or to donate or volunteer locally, please visit freshfoodhub.net.