Feed Fannin buys local produce

  • Feed Fannin volunteers harvested sweet potatoes Monday, September 28, at their farm on Ada Street in Blue Ridge. Shown are, from left, front, Dave Ricker, Lory Conte, Kathy Corey; back, Curt Hinnant, Priscilla Cashman, Sheryl Osborne and Toby, Catherine Sugg and Zora Herr.
    Feed Fannin volunteers harvested sweet potatoes Monday, September 28, at their farm on Ada Street in Blue Ridge. Shown are, from left, front, Dave Ricker, Lory Conte, Kathy Corey; back, Curt Hinnant, Priscilla Cashman, Sheryl Osborne and Toby, Catherine Sugg and Zora Herr.
  • Priscilla Cashman holds up several sweet potatoes that were harvested this season in Feed Fannin’s garden.
    Priscilla Cashman holds up several sweet potatoes that were harvested this season in Feed Fannin’s garden.
  • Luke Dilbeck of The Folk Apothic has been helping Feed Fannin obtain fresh, local produce for Fannin County Family Connection’s food pantry.
    Luke Dilbeck of The Folk Apothic has been helping Feed Fannin obtain fresh, local produce for Fannin County Family Connection’s food pantry.
  • Feed Fannin Farm and Garden Manager Kathy Beck pets Miss Bacon, a neighbor’s pet pig, when she paid a visit to the garden one day this summer.
    Feed Fannin Farm and Garden Manager Kathy Beck pets Miss Bacon, a neighbor’s pet pig, when she paid a visit to the garden one day this summer.

    This past June, Feed Fannin began purchasing needed produce from local farmers.

    Although the organization produced some 7,500 pounds of food in their own garden, more was, and is, needed in order to keep Fannin County Family Connection’s food pantry stocked.

    “The clients at the food pantry continue to rise every month, and having a source of fresh produce is very important,” Farm and Garden Manager Kathy Beck said.

    Over the past four years, Feed Fannin had been receiving a grant that allowed them to purchase 1,750 pounds of produce for $35, but that deal has since ceased.

    “We never knew what it was gonna be,” Beck said. “It was just a variety of different produce, whatever was available from different parts of the country even.”

    After COVID-19 hit, the food pantry had been getting some produce through Feed America, but were only able to get two boxes.

    “So we were getting no produce basically,” Beck said.

    Typically, grocery stores donate extra produce to Feed Fannin and the food pantry, but they were unable to do so during the beginning of the pandemic because supplies were so low.

    Recognizing the needs of farmers, along with the need to feed the hungry within the community, Beck suggested buying produce from local farmers to combat the shortage they were seeing.

    “There was three of us that were on the committee that we started out going to farmer’s markets on the weekends, just trying to find some farmers that might have the access,” Beck said.

    She eventually contacted Luke Dilbeck with The Folk Apothic, who sells local produce boxes, to see if he would be interested in doing a bulk box for Feed Fannin.

    “He started sourcing it from local farmers in our area,” Beck said. “Feed Fannin started buying three to 400 pounds of produce every week, and we’ve continued that since then, and we will continue it through October or as long as we can.”

    By doing this, Beck said it is a “win-win for everybody” since Feed Fannin is able to help those in need of assistance within the community and aid local farmers with revenue at the same time.

    Feed Fannin has purchased over 3,500 pounds of produce this past summer, and has been able to provide the food pantry with 11,044 pounds.

    “I was raised with the idea that ‘to whom much is given, much is required,’ and I think that we’ve been really blessed in our community by the support that Feed Fannin has received and even during this pandemic,” Beck said.

    She added that despite not having their annual Bowls of Hope fundraiser, they were able to auction off all of the items for the fundraiser online and made just as much as last year.