Last year marked the beginning of the Food Recovery Program in which we partner with Harps Grocery Store to try to improve food security in our community and increase access to fresh, healthy food. Beginning in May 2018, we started rescuing perfectly good fresh fruits and veggies, and rerouting them to fill hungry bellies in elementary schools and food pantries. Through these efforts, we recovered 7290 lbs of edible food, and 2290 lbs of compost, for a total of 9580 lbs of food diverted from the landfill!! A very special thanks goes out to the people at Harps, Sarah Lane, Lacey Starkey, and the dedicated volunteers who make all of this possible.
For the 3rd consecutive year, The Locals partnered with New South Coop to increase the availability of local food in our community through their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program. The Locals Food Hub received and distributed weekly shares of fresh, local produce to an average of 44 families throughout the 2018 growing season. This program benefits 36 Arkansas farmers, and our location alone helped circulate $29,951.35 of local food dollars! A special thanks to Bell Urban Farm for hosting The Locals Food Hub. If you would like to participate in this year's CSA program, you can sign up now by visiting newsouthcoop.com
Last year also marked the transition of the Urban Farm Project (UFP) from being part of The Locals to an official part of the Faulkner County Library! For more than eight years, volunteers worked hard to establish UFP as an educational tool for the community, and 2018 marked the first time the library hired a full-time staff member dedicated to maintaining and developing the garden and its programs. The Urban Farm Project is now a permanent asset in the growing local food infrastructure of our community. A special thanks goes out to John McGraw, Nancy Allen, Sean Ott, and the many many volunteers who put their work and sweat into making the garden what it is today.
We are looking forward to another great year of getting the community together, finding ways to support each other, and making Conway a great place to live!
Thank you for your support.
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