Food And Farm Council Of Riley County & Manhattan

Goal: $15,000.00

Specific Need

The Food and Farm Council is a hidden commodity in our local food system. We aren't the front line from food to people. However, we are the network hub behind the scenes making it EASIER for our front line partners to better meet their client needs through the program solutions we set in motion to make it easier to access food, reduce food waste and support local farms and food businesses.

Our financial needs are for:

1. Operational funding for our programs

2. Staff support for coordinating our programs and partnerships, and grant writing/ management

Funds are needed for the following programs and coordination:

Kitchen Restore - Kitchenware starter kits provided through social service agency partners to households in need. Food without tools is a gap.

IMPACT: Over 300 kits delivered to 13 different social service agency partners for households in need

Flint Hills Food Recovery - Through an efficient, coordinated app system local caterers, restaurants, and grocers donate excess food delivered by volunteers to ten local agencies/org. that provide food to their guests/customers.

IMPACT: Over 32,000 lbs of food recovered the past 20 months from 26 donating caterers/restaurants/grocers, given to 10 recipient agencies/organizations, with 87 volunteers in the system

Blessing Boxes - 25 small, outdoor boxes located throughout Manhattan and Riley county that provide shelf stable foods and personal hygiene items

IMPACT: Emergency food and personal hygiene products more readily available in high traffic low income neighborhoods.

Konza Student Table - Through a walk up or drive through service, a free nutritious meal for any KSU students and families offered each Wed night year-round. More than a meal, the program is led by community and KSU student volunteers and offers a smile, a listening ear, and support.

IMPACT: 100,000 meals served since Fall 2020, with over 450 different volunteers

Power of Produce - Twelve-week Summer program at the Downtown Farmers Market of Manhattan for kids ages 4-12 and their families. Kids are provided $3 in tokens to purchase their OWN produce! Hands on nutrition activities, produce tasting, take-home recipes and fun give kids educational POWER to enjoy fresh produce!

IMPACT: 2500 kids and their families have participated in the past three Summers

Healthy Food Rx. Program - Current program offers $25 produce vouchers through six social service/pantry/health clinic partners to clients that screen high risk for food insecurity.

IMPACT: 450 vouchers provided the past two years

SNAP signup assistance - A weekly assistance program at the Breadbasket for assessing resident SNAP eligibility and assisting with signup paperwork lessening barriers to participation in the program. Tools and training also used by partner organizations to assist their clients onsite.

Kansas Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program signup assistance - An assistance program to help Seniors understand the program and register so they can receive vouchers for produce at the local farmers market Summer/Fall.

IMPACT: Numbers of Seniors receiving produce vouchers has doubled since starting the assistance program.

Downtown Farmers Market Ambassadors Program - Coming this Spring/Summer! Ambassadors will be available to help carry items to cars, and answer questions about assistance programs like Double Up Food Bucks and Kansas Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program. Product tasting too!!

IMPACT: Starting this Spring, sign up to be a volunteer Ambassador and help build the impact!

K-State Students - The Council provides applied learning opportunities for Kansas State University students year round. Students work alongside our Council members and partners to assess local food system problems, develop, implement and assess program solutions. Sustainability, health as a consideration in policy decisions, and diversity, equity, and inclusion key elements of our work with students.

IMPACT: Minimum 9-10 students work with our Council each semester to meet course requirements, advance their skill set and ALL opportunities are with real world experience through applied learning.

Mission

The mission of the Food and Farm Council is to advocate for and sustain an accessible and healthy local food system.

The Food and Farm Council of Riley County and City of Manhattan assesses needs, connects partners and coordinates solutions to improve food access and security, decrease food waste, and support local farms and food businesses — all to promote healthy living in Manhattan and Riley County. We adopted the name Nourish Together as the umbrella for our impactful programs and network of partner collaborations.

Profile

In a short five years, since appointed by the City and County Commissions through a joint resolution, we have implemented programs noted above that have made a difference in improving food access and security, reducing food waste, and supporting local farms and food businesses.

Guided by input from our community, our Master Food Plan, adopted by both City and County as their ten-year strategic plan to improve our local food system, set goals and action steps for making it easier to access healthful, affordable, safe food, teach the skills to buy and prepare that food, support our local producers, and recover extra food saving it from going to the landfill! With over fifty local food system partners we serve as the network hub to collaboratively create and implement solutions that would be too difficult to accomplish independently.

Implementing the actions in the Master Food Plan requires funding support. We write grants and depend on wonderful volunteers but we have no paid staff. Our work is growing and we must increase our funding sources to continue to improve our local food system.