Partnership Feeds Rogue Valley Families in Need

Not a day goes by that we don’t feel a sense of awe and appreciation for what our grower partners do to put food on the collective community table. Now, more than ever, we are moved by the creativity, partnerships and kindness happening as everyone navigates through the impacts of the pandemic.

One such partnership is led by Rogue Valley Farm to School and Fry Family Farm in Southern Oregon. The two have teamed up to distribute 2,000 boxes per week of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables to families in need through the school lunch programs of Central Point School District, Ashland School District and Kids Unlimited in Medford. The program is part of the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program and is set to run through the end of June, but the hope is to continue it throughout the summer and possibly even into the fall. Together, Rogue Valley Farm to School and Fry Family Farm expect to distribute 24,000 food boxes by the end of the summer.

“The response to the program has been tremendous. Mothers have cried as they were handed boxes filled with organic fruits and veggies,” said Shelia Foster, executive director of Rogue Valley Farm to School. “Access to fresh, healthy, and particularly organic food, has been something out of reach for many of our families for years. That has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis.”

Rogue Valley Farm to School began working with area schools to improve meals nearly a decade ago. The program saw it as a way to improve access to good nutrition for the many children that rely on school meals as a key source of food during the year. That most of the producers in the Rogue Valley are organic means that participants are receiving a quality of food that may have otherwise been out of reach.

School closures have exacerbated food insecurity for many families making school lunch programs a nexus point for meeting the needs of the community by providing thousands of meals every day. Distributing boxes of fresh vegetables for families to use over the weekend provides direct support to families, as well as assists schools working to feed so many.
More than 300 cars lined up at Jewett Elementary School in the town of Central Point last Wednesday to pick up boxes. Hundreds of families responded to Fry Family Farm’s social media posts with pictures of the recipes they made with their box.

“It’s been so great to see,” Amber Fry of Fry Family Farm said poignantly. “The number of families in our community that don’t have access to food is just hard to realize. It’s really nice to be helping.”

Fry Family Farm serves as a food hub, ordering fruits and vegetables from farmers in the Rogue Valley and throughout Oregon, as well as working with Organically Grown Company to source from other farms who have been particularly hard hit by restaurants and other institutions closing

“We have extensive and meaningful history with the Fry Family that goes back more than 20 years,” said Mike Neubeck, OGC’s director of Purchasing. “They’re visionary business people and have always had the health of the community and the needs of region’s organic growers at heart. We’ve been longtime partners and are thrilled to supply some of the fresh produce staples such as citrus and apples, to supplement the food boxes.”