Food for People’s efforts to offset a huge, DOGE-induced funding loss got a boost recently, when the North Coast Co-op pledged to add $3,500 to the Farmers Fund challenge, encouraging community members who are able to also contribute to the effort to help both local farmers and food-insecure households.
“The North Coast Co-op is excited to be part of this fundraising challenge that supports two things we care about highly, getting nutritious food to those who need it the most in our community while supporting our local farmers,” Co-op Sponsors and Donations Administrator Emily Walter said in a press release.
On March 10, Food for People and the North Coast Grower’s Association’s Harvest Hub were rattled by news that Trump administration cuts at the United States Department of Agriculture were shuttering a program — the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement — that was providing Food for People about $360,000 annually to purchase produce from local farms through the North Coast Growers Association’s Harvest Hub. The program had reverberating impacts, helping the food bank secure thousands of pounds monthly for its approximately 21,000 clients, while supporting local farms by purchasing food with funds from outside the county that then went to pay local wages and support local families.
After hearing of the cut, Food for People supporters Melanie Williams and Barbara Goldberg pledged to match $50,000 worth of donations made to the food bank’s Locally Delicious Farmers Fund, which is used to purchase produce solely from local farms.
“When we learned this vital funding had been cut, we felt a sense of urgency,” Williams and Goldberg said in the press release. “The growing season has begun, we can’t wait, our local farmers need our financial support now to assure local seniors, children and tribal people have healthy food again this season.”
With the Co-op’s recent pledge, the challenge to meet Williams and Goldberg’s $50,000 match has now raised $42,000, sitting $8,000 short of its goal with a looming June 7 deadline.
Donations can be made to Food for People’s Locally Delicious Farmers Fund by mail (PO Box 4922, Eureka, CA 95502) or online at foodforpeople.org.
This article appears in Glory Over Land and Sea.
