Dear Farmers To You Community,
I wanted to reach out and fill you in on the situation here in Vermont. First I want to let you know that everyone – our staff and farmers – are safe, and that we are still assessing the damage and impact. Many of you have a deep connection to communities here in Vermont and you have come to rely on and value Farmers To You. The community here in Vermont is a resilient one, however, the degree of destruction and displacement we have witnessed over the last few days is beyond our capacity and we will need your help to recover.
Farmers To You, fortunately, did not sustain any flood damage directly, but extensive road closures and flooding prevented us from delivering food to our customers this week. Our staff could not reach the Hub to pack orders, and many were dealing with the crisis in their homes and communities. For the first time in our 14 year history we failed to deliver! Of course, many of our partners delivered Monday, before the storm. We have fortunately been able to donate that fresh produce, dairy and meat to the surrounding community, and were able to loan out our trucks to farmers in need.
A number of our vegetable farmers sustained very heavy losses and are still assessing the damage. For some, their spring plantings are a near total loss. They will need help to recover financially. At this time of year vegetable farms have invested everything into the ground and they were just beginning to see income. This is a huge financial blow for these farms.
Farmers To You will need to quickly make up this week’s income loss so we can continue to keep this partnership and community alive. And we need your help to do that.
How Can You Help?
- Donate. 100% of donated funds will be used for storm recovery for FTY and our partner farms. Farmers To You Vermont Flood Relief - Go Fund Me
- Shop with us. We are ready for your order. This supports Farmers To You and the farmers. This helps your rural foodshed at a time of critical need.
- Share. Forward this blog post to your friends, families and others who have a connection and interest in helping Vermont farms recover.
We are a tough and resilient lot up here in the green hills of Vermont, and asking for help is not something we do lightly. Please help us now, in any way that you can.
With deep gratitude,
Greg and the staff at Farmers To You
