Fresh Food for Poughkeepsie

Help Poughkeepsie Farm Project raise $25,000 to address food insecurity during this health crisis.

We are asking for your help with our Emergency Food Response to the COVID -19 pandemic that has left many people in our community food insecure. Your support immediately strengthens our efforts to deliver thousands of pounds (3,400 and counting as of this writing!) of free, fresh produce directly to our neighbors and emergency food providers and to get meals to people who need them. 

Poughkeepsie Farm Project is partnering with Dutchess Outreach and other emergency providers to ensure that members of our community have healthy food during this difficult period. Poughkeepsie Farm Project is growing and distributing fresh produce and Dutchess Outreach is preparing nutritious meals for individuals and families to pick up to take home.

We are working hard to make sure our community is fed while many folks are facing layoffs, reduced hours, school closures, health concerns, and uncertainty. We have already donated over 3,400 pounds of produce in the month of March in response to this crisis -- that’s triple what we donated last year. Due to the need for extra safety precautions, it’s necessary that this work is being done without the help of volunteers or interns. This means we are spending many additional hours bagging, transporting, and distributing produce around the city.
The cost of providing this much needed food is expected to be $80,000, of which we have already secured $30,000. Right now, we are aiming to raise $25,000 with your support to keep moving forward. 

Your donation will support the following:

*Provide weekly bags of produce for children at free breakfast and lunch sites now and during the summer
*Provide produce to Dutchess Outreach weekly for their Lunch Box prepared meals program and to 12 other emergency food providers (pantries, shelters, and sites that offer hot meals) 
*Purchase supplies for safe food distribution including to-go containers for Dutchess Outreach's prepared meals and bags and boxes for fresh produce
*Purchase supplies for and distribute container gardening kits so that families have the option to grow some of their own food at home

Please consider a donation of any amount to support this effort to ensure that all of our community has access to healthy food.   

Here is is what your donation can provide:

$14 - produce bags for 2 children
$25 - supplies for 1 container gardening kit
$50 - delivery of 25 lbs of produce to emergency food providers 
$75 - 200 to-go containers for safe distribution of hot meals by Dutchess Outreach
$100 - delivery of 50 lbs of produce to Dutchess Outreach to make into hot meals
$350 - produce bags for 50 children
$1,000 - 40 container gardening kits
$2,000 - delivery of 1,000 lbs of produce to emergency food providers 

If you want to help, need assistance,or know someone who does, please find information here:  https://www.dutchessny.gov/Departments/DBCH/Dutchess-Responds-COVID-19.htm

Poughkeepsie Farm Project is a non-profit organization that works towards a just and sustainable food system in the Mid-Hudson Valley by operating a member supported farm, providing education about food and farming and improving access to healthy locally grown food.

Be well and take care of each other, 

The Poughkeepsie Farm Project Team