Farmers To You uses the donations each week to purchase produce in bulk from our regular partner farmers. This produce goes to the Barre Food Shelf where community members can come pick up food, or where the food can be cooked and distributed as meals.
The Barre Food Shelf is part of Capstone Community Action located in Barre Vermont.
Capstones' Family & Community Support Services helps people with basic needs, such as food, shelter and housing. The food shelf in Barre serves about 850 families every month. The program tries to focus on fresh foods, giving away hundreds of pounds of produce weekly. They also give out shelf-stable items, frozen meat, bread and dairy.
The Food shelf serves people of all ages and household configurations: working families with children, families receiving TANF (Temporary Aid to Needy Families), retired seniors, disabled people, people living in subsidized housing, homeless people and those who own their own homes. Most of the people who use the food shelf have incomes around the poverty level.
Capstone, in partnership with the Vermont Foodbank has a program at the Gable Place location called Community Kitchen Academy. It also serves as a training program for entry level food industry jobs. Through this program they also processes raw materials into meals that are distributed through the food shelf. Thus, some food is diverted from the waste steam, serves as training material and also feeds people in need.
