nothin Volunteers Keep Fresh Food Flowing | New Haven Independent

Volunteers Keep Fresh Food Flowing

Lisa Reisman photos

Charles Eugene Holiness and Shelly Holiness prepare for food delivery.

An SUV backed into Honda Smith’s Harper Avenue driveway in West Hills this past drizzly Wednesday afternoon.

Smith, the alder of Ward 30, emerged from her garage, clicking off her phone. Another batch of fresh food for those in need during the pandemic had arrived — and a team of volunteers was ready to get those boxes distributed.

Can I get some help getting seven boxes into the trunk?” Smith called out to a group of neighbors, before turning her attention to the driver.

Pop the trunk, Shelly,” she said, referring to her neighbor Shelly Holiness.

Kelly Shreeve delivers 86 food boxes to Honda Smith’s garage.

The 12-pound boxes of fresh produce came from Common Ground High School mobile market managers Kelly Shreeve and Chelsea Brooks.

For the past twelve Wednesdays at 12:30 p.m., they’ve been delivering 86 boxes to Smith’s garage, as well as 225 more to other areas of West Hills and West Rock, including 60 Common Ground families.

It’s about getting fresh, local fruits and vegetables out to people who need it in our community,” said Shreeve, whose route also takes her and Brooks to the public housing development Brookside Estates, Tower One Tower East, and Wilmot Crossing senior housing, as well as to Beulah Heights Church in Dixwell.

As has been the case since mid-June, the produce was picked fresh from Cecarelli’s Harrison Hill Farm in Northford the day before, thanks to a contract secured in early May from the USDA Farmers to Families food box program.

The program pays farmers to box up and distribute product to food banks and nonprofit organizations.

Food boxes with produce from Cecarelli Farm.

The $660,000 award has had Cecarelli’s owner William DellaCamera providing roughly 2,000 boxes each week to the Council of Churches in Greater Bridgeport and East Haven Public Schools, in addition to Common Ground.

While the program has not been without its issues nationwide, it’s been a complete blessing to the residents here to receive fresh produce,” Smith said.

This is a poverty community in need, surrounded by four to five different housing complexes of low-income families, and Covid has made it worse,” she said.

We have a lot of retired seniors living in their own homes who can’t get out to shop and also people who’ve been laid off from jobs that didn’t know how they were going to make out.”

Holiness, who joined Smith in the garage, agreed. These are all low-income residents who otherwise would have no access to healthy food, and even if they did, they’re priced out,” she said. 

Smith’s phone beeped. There’s a text from one of our seniors. “‘God bless you,’” she read aloud. “‘You such a blessing.’ People get their deliveries, they’ll text me, they’ll call me.”

A Healthier Way Of Eating”

Recipe included in food box from Common Ground newsletter

The conversation turned to nutrition. Speaking from my own experience growing up in a low-income family, you try to get what’s on sale, to just get by, so that your children can eat,” Smith said.

The residents would rather get canned food for 99 cents versus getting the produce where you’re gonna pay $1.29 a pound.”

She pointed to the label on a box showing contents that ranged from green beans to peaches to kale.

It’s just a healthier way of eating where you know what you’re putting in your body and it’s not something sitting in a shelf aging for a long period of time,” she said.

This is about helping the people that need it,” said Harper Avenue resident John Warren, who’s been volunteering to help Smith each week, as he helped load boxes into Holiness’ trunk. He said he was looking forward to his wife cooking the green beans. 

We’re trying to instill healthy eating habits in our residents,” Holiness said. This fresh, good healthy food gives you a stronger and better life for yourself, where you don’t have to worry about that high blood pressure, or obesity, because those are the kind of things we worry about.”

Smith allowed that there have been some growing pains with unfamiliar produce.

Warren, helping get the food out.


You don’t buy them, you don’t know how to cook them, that’s why I’m glad Common Ground started putting out a newsletter to show our people what to do with the vegetables,” she said. They wouldn’t think I can make kale taste as good as collard greens.”

Holiness recently made swiss chard and beans soup from a recipe included in the box. Just delicious,” she said.
 
A red sedan rolled by in the mist. There’s Leonora,” Smith said, referring to Leonora Henderson. Another of our volunteers, she was getting her hair done.”

Time for me to get going,” Holiness said, getting back in her car. She said she’d be delivering boxes to seniors that can’t get to the main pickup, as well as a neighbor with lupus. I figure she needs the produce for that,” she said. 

The beauty of this program is that it’s brought this community together,” Smith said, as she guided Henderson in. A lot of people wanted to be a part of this, so it brought a collaboration, it brought them getting to know other residents.”

Amen to that,” Henderson said.

William DellaCamera, owner and operator of Cecarelli’s Harrison Hill Farm in Northford.

For Common Ground’s Shreeve, a veteran in food justice issues, the program is a win for Common Ground, Honda Smith’s constituents, and DellaCamera.

These food boxes are not going to end hunger, but we’ve been able to provide way more produce than we would have ordinarily and small farmers like Will are getting paid to grow and distribute food to people who otherwise may not have been able to purchase it,” she said. That goes to quality of life.”

For his part, DellaCamera views the program as a game-changer.

When we all shut down because of the virus, there was a major overload of supply and no easy way to redirect it to food banks and markets,” he said.

It took that disruption in the supply chain to make everyone realize how much people need local farms like ours. 

With fresh produce, the closer you get to the end user, the better off you are,” he said. That just makes sense. With the federal funding, we’re able to collaborate with the towns and meet the needs of our neighbors. This should become a model for the future.” 

DellaCamera said the best part has been the phone calls, emails, and letters from families who’ve received the boxes.

Just to have fresh-grown tomatoes and cucumbers and peaches like they’re getting, some people haven’t had that before, and they’re loving it,” he said. I think we are making people happy in these awful times.”
 
Recent threats by the USDA to revamp the program in favor of corporate food wholesalers have seen a host of supporters rise up on DellaCamera’s behalf, including U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro.

Sweeping changes proposed by the USDA would eliminate eligibility for family farmers and threaten food access for families,” she wrote in an email. That is shameful. I hope USDA will prioritize people over these corporate interests and let family farmers do what they do best: feed their local communities.” 

DellaCamera remains hopeful that he can deliver boxes as long as they’re needed.

These people are still going to need healthy food over the winter,” he said. If there’s enough money, I have the ability to buy food from wholesalers and pack boxes with potatoes, onions, and carrots, and one wholesaler already committed to have apples right through the winter.

As long as there’s funding, I can make it last until spring.”

That would be fine with Smith. The need is there, and it’s not going away anytime soon,” she said, surveying the eight boxes she was keeping for residents to pick up after work.

Other than that, there’s not a one left over,” Smith said, shaking her head with a broad smile; the rain had stopped. All gone.” 

Tags:

Sign up for our morning newsletter

Don't want to miss a single Independent article? Sign up for our daily email newsletter! Click here for more info.


Post a Comment

Commenting has closed for this entry

Comments

Avatar for Heather C.

Avatar for TOWNIEE