Farmers market giving produce to those who can’t pay
STAMFORD — A local farmers market that opened for the season this week has adopted a new approach to serving customers in need during the coronavirus pandemic.
For the first time, Fairgate Farm is offering free fresh food to individuals who can’t afford to pay. Farm leaders are also accepting payment through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); Women, Infant and Children Nutrition Services (WIC); and Senior Farmers Market Benefit checks, said Heidi Andersen, the farm’s outreach coordinator.
Farm leaders also recently instituted a new curbside walk-up or drive-up option to promote social distancing.
The farm, located at 129 Stillwater Ave., first opened a community market a decade ago. It then expanded three years ago to also include a farmers market, which is now open Thursdays and Saturdays through the end of October.
“The reason we started it was just to be a source of fresh healthy produce, really, in an area that’s kind of an underserved community, where it’s not as easy to access fresh produce in our neighborhood,” said Pete Novajosky, farm manager.
“So, we’re trying to make highquality produce as available as possible,” he said.
The staff plants, cultivates, harvests and sells the fresh produce on the premises almost all year-round.
On Thursday, the first day of the season, Novajosky and Andersen buzzed around the farm, tending to customers who had preordered their food online.
The two have taken on an increased workload because of the pandemic. Fairgate Farm temporarily halted most of its volunteer services, which meant losing a big portion of their workforce.
Novajosky and Andersen also manage a new online portal, the only place customers can place orders. They also prepack the bags, another new task. Before the pandemic, customers could circle around the farm and shop.
“It’s just a very new system; it’s a slower system,” Andersen said.
Farm leaders encourage the public to take advantage of the new financial assistance services at the farmers market. Paying customers keep Fairgate Farm financially stable and offset the costs for residents who play on a sliding scale.
A $35,000 grant from the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation has helped farm leaders to continue distributing food to people in need before and amid the pandemic.
“We really are trying to get the word out, especially on accepting SNAP,” Novajosky said. “Food is available and there shouldn’t be barriers to food if people don’t have the extra money.”
City leaders distributed SNAP cards to families with children in the Stamford Public Schools system, Andersen said. The partnership is also serving fresh food to undocumented people locally. During the pandemic, it’s even more important for residents to have access to fresh food in their communities, given the widely reported disruptions in the food supply chain, said Novajosky.
Lori Moon, who recently moved to Stamford, had visited the farm with her son. Until this year, Moon, a single mother of four, had received WIC and Medicaid benefits and used a local food bank. She echoed Novajosky’s comment about the importance of access to fresh food
“Sometimes what we would get through (our local) food bank was high in sodium and lots of white rice, which wasn’t very good, especially if someone had diabetes, which my family is prone to,” she said.
Joy Light walked only a few feet from her home to visit the farmers market.
She has volunteered there for more than seven years, starting out by planting crops in the greenhouse and learning she has a green thumb.
Light’s volunteer work earns her the benefit of occasionally taking home fresh food.
“You can put in an hour’s worth (of volunteering) and walk out of here with a bag of fresh produce. That did help me a lot and still does,” she said.
Light described the market as an inclusive space that treats customers with the utmost respect.
“You don’t have to sit home and be hungry,” she said.
“You might not (get) meat, but you can have a good, fresh vegetarian meal,” she continued. “It matters. This farm is a wonderful place.”
To place an order online, visit fairgatefarm.com/farmers-market/.