NEAT scrambles to sustain market

Incentives give low-income families access to fresh produce

MIDDLETOWN » As organizers rally to remedy less funding for this year’s farmers market, their initial concern — finding money to run the overall program — has shifted to the hope that more donors will help fill the gap.

The North End Farmers Market, now in its ninth year, depends on the Double Dollars program to help low-income families stretch their SNAP, WIC or Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program allotments by doubling their value when it’s spent on fruits and vegetables.

Double Dollars is disbursed through End Hunger Connecticut.

It works like this: “They shop with SNAP as usual — but get their purchasing power doubled, in the form of tokens or coupons called ‘nutrition incentives,’” according to its website.

This year, according to North End Action Team board member Yasmine Kuytu, the city was unable to provide funding as it has in the past, which left organizers scrambling to raise the money

necessary for the market to continue.

NEAT found out late in the year that it wasn’t going to get financial support it was counting on to reach the $25,000 needed to run the program. Council members had to pick and choose between programs to support, and this year opted for senior meals, Kuytu said.

“[That’s] generally a relatively comfortable amount for operational costs with at least a bare minimum of Double Dollars,” Kuytu said.

Not only was that cut unexpected, Kuytu said, but it set in motion a desperate search for other sources of money.

“It’s the last blow, the last thing you need with all the other challenges that we’re currently facing, and concerns for future challenges, so it’s that frustration. Then it’s the panic of how are ‘how are we going to do it?’ and then everyone running around panicstricken,” Kuytu said.

Fortunately, Wholesome Waves, which, according to its mission, helps “underserved consumers make better food choices by increasing affordable access to healthy produce,” provided a grant of $4,000 with the possibility of matching funds up to $10,000, said NEAT’s new market master Liza Perow, who is also a member of the farmers market committee.

So NEAT set that as a fundraising goal.

Already, half of that sum has been donated by private individuals, said Perow.

“We’ve gotten $2,000 and $1,000, and smaller gifts of $100 and $200, she said. Kidcity contributed a large amount, Kuytu said. It rained on July 7, when the first market was set to open, so the season began July 14.

“That’s when we really started to get word out that we needed funding,” Perow said.

And the community has responded.

“That’s just spectacular,” Kuytu said. “It’s super gracious and it’s so necessary. The capacity exists out there — people do have the means and the need exists.”

And that’s crucial for those struggling to put healthy food on the table who find it difficult to purchase fruits and vegetables because their cost — even when the produce is in season — is not always within families’ limited budgets.

Plus, Perow said, “the quality [of farmers markets’ produce] is definitely different. If you taste strawberries at the farmers market as opposed to the grocery store, it’s very different,”

“Families have enough on their plate so we’re dealing with that pain of we can’t just leave them hanging,” Kuytu said. “We still have to provide them healthy food access.”

This year, that lack of sufficient funding forced NEAT to choose between Double Dollars and the kids market, which in the past has allowed up to 30 elementary school children who participate in the summer lunch program administered by the Community Renewal Team to participate in the kids market, where children are given $5 in tokens to purchase healthy produce of their choosing. Lunch sites this summer included one at the Russell Library.

“It was really between Double Dollars and the kids market — which one was more important to the community,” Perow said.

Kuytu said there are immeasurable benefits of the Double Dollars program.

“It’s just a matter of reminding ourselves ...[of] the value and benefit and reminding ourselves that we do live in a fantastic community that does support various beneficial programs like this, and we have people in our community that are like-minded,” she said.

That realization is a powerful one, Kuytu said.

“It’s feeling confident in the ability that if you spread the information and the knowledge, and make more people aware of both the existence of the program and the need for it, people will pitch in,” she said.

“It’s not a lot of money to keep it running, as nonprofits go. It’s really not,” Kuytu said.

FILE PHOTO The North End Action Team’s weekly farmers market helps low-income families put healthful food on the table by offering them tokens through the Double Dollars program.