THE DIFFERENCE IS YOU
Sharing the Harvest Community Farm at the Dartmouth YMCA
Annual Report 2013
Growing Food, Friends and a Future Dear Friends, Colleagues, Volunteers & Supporters: Despite the polar vortex residing over New England and the US this winter provided us with a rare frigidity, here at Sharing the Harvest our thoughts are already moving towards the warmer weather and green vegetation of spring. We are working eagerly while waiting anxiously with new seeds on the shelves and potting soil in the greenhouse to start the 2014 season. Why so eager you ask? Because 2013 was incredible. In 2013 we easily had our greatest year yet. We set records in donations, planting, volunteers, volunteer hours and did so while maintaining a whole focus on every aspect of the farm. We did not let the increased size of the farm daunt our efforts to more thoroughly cultivate our crops, or more seasonally plant them. We did not let the sheer volume of produce hinder our strength to collect it, nor did we distract from the task at hand with all the new projects at hand. Instead, in 2013, we arrived eagerly, met great new friends, spoke positively, listened and most importantly, worked tirelessly and relentlessly to give the utmost performance in our space to produce maximum results. The volunteers who show up each day, and each week, in the rain and in the snow, and when no one wants to go outside are what made 2013 such a resounding success. They motivated each other, they motivated themselves, and they motivated me. Those volunteers came eagerly, despite knowing what was in for them, those who have ‘farm’ clothes, and those same who do smartly and act wisely are the reason we can celebrate so greatly. So thank you 2013 Sharing the Harvest Volunteers because it is you who makes progress grow. With utmost sincerity,
Daniel H. King Sharing the Harvest Community Farm Director
Derek Heim Dartmouth YMCA Executive Director
The Sharing the Harvest Mission Sharing the Harvest Community Farm has three major objectives: • Alleviate Hunger for children, families and adults in need of food assistance throughout the south coast of Massachusetts by growing and distributing nutritional food to food pantries, soup kitchens and emergency feeding programs from Fall River to Wareham. • Promote volunteerism and an awareness of hunger in our communities, and build our community through neighbors helping neighbors. • Teach volunteers about farming, agriculture, nutrition, nature and food origination. Though the major focus of Sharing the Harvest is growing nutritional food to relieve hunger, this program promotes volunteerism and fosters the education of volunteers and the community-at-large to understand and confront the reality of hunger in their own communities. Local emergency feeding programs cannot provide sufficient amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables to satisfy the health needs for well-balanced meals, especially for young children and elderly individuals. Fresh produce is cost prohibitive for many low and low-middle income families in our region, which leads to poor nourishment among a variety of other health concerns. The key to solving the problem was finding a low-cost supplier that could grow, harvest and prepare fresh crops for emergency feeding programs with a single day turnaround. Sharing the Harvest Community Farm was the answer. Sharing the Harvest also promotes financial stewardship and partnerships between public, private, non-profit and government agencies. These agencies work with local residents of all ages, incomes, abilities and creeds to fight hunger in their community by growing and distributing fresh vegetables to thousands of neighbors in need. Community volunteers from businesses, schools and civic organizations bring their energy and enthusiasm to help fulfill our mission to grow nutritious food to feed the hungry in our community. The farm continues to create the civic involvement, goodwill and spirit of volunteerism that we had hoped for and continues to mobilize thousands of volunteers to make a difference in their community. The overall success of Sharing the Harvest Community Farm will have a substantial long-term impact on the lives of thousands of low-income children, families and seniors at risk in local communities.
History of Sharing the Harvest Sharing the Harvest Community Farm is a grassroots effort to alleviate hunger at the local level. Sharing the Harvest was created at the Dartmouth YMCA in 2006 for the express purpose of producing fresh, local, and healthy fruits and vegetables for distribution by the Hunger Commission, a program of the United Way of Greater New Bedford. While the Hunger Commission has provided food to local food pantries and soup kitchens since 1987, they have had no consistent supplier of nutritious, fresh vegetables. Sharing the Harvest Community Farm filled that niche. Since 2006, Sharing the Harvest has provided more than 200,000 pounds (or 800,000 servings) of fresh, healthy produce and has been home to more than 10,800 volunteers who have collectively donated more than 26,000 hours of their time and talent.
Our Organizational Structure
Sharing the Harvest Community Farm is a volunteer-driven initiative under the direction of Farm Director, Daniel King; Executive Director of the Dartmouth YMCA, Derek Heim; AmeriCorps*VISTA Health & Wellness Specialist, Megan Berthiaume; AmeriCorps*VISTA Volunteer Development Coordinator, Ellen Selley; Program Director, Samantha Fagundes; and the Farm Committee, our volunteer steering committee. The United Way of Greater New Bedford assists with both volunteer recruitment and community outreach. The Hunger Commission, a program of the United Way of Greater New Bedford, via daily pickups, distributes the produce to local food pantries, soup kitchens and other emergency feeding programs, ensuring that 100% of the food grown on the Sharing the Harvest Community Farm reaches the people in need in our community.
Hunger Agencies Served
Sharing the Harvest, through the Hunger Commission, serves: • • • • • • • • • •
Catholic Social Services of New Bedford M.O.L.I.F.E. of New Bedford Immigrants Assistance Center of New Bedford St. Anthony of Padua of New Bedford Red Cross of New Bedford Heritage House of New Bedford Salvation Army of both New Bedford and Fall River Citizens for Citizen of Fall River Veterans Association of Fall River Damien’s Place in Wareham
Education and Outreach Sharing the Harvest Community Farm provides free opportunities for school groups to visit, volunteer, explore and learn at the farm and on the Dartmouth YMCA property. Our goal at the farm is to provide this opportunity for both the educational and civic opportunities it affords. While providing these no-cost field trips requires additional funding, Sharing the Harvest is committed to allocating the program dollars needed to the development of a comprehensive program that will help teachers bring students to an active outdoor agricultural classroom. While at the farm, students connect with agriculture and nature in an old-fashioned way, with their hands. While visiting, the students work in the soil, pass through the pastures and wander in the woods. Part of their experience consists of volunteering while another part is exploring, all in an effort to provide the children a real connection to food production, food origination, and the natural farm environment. Sharing the Harvest provides them with an opportunity to get their hands in the dirt and their eyes in the wild to learn while giving back to their community. Depending on the weather and the season, kids are given the opportunity to perform various tasks on the farm, including, but certainly not limited to: preparing beds for planting, sowing seeds in the soil, transplanting seedlings, cultivating crops and harvesting and preparing produce. Sharing the Harvest Community Farm provides students a place to explore new territories, taste new flavors, touch new textures and see new sights, all while learning about agriculture and the role it plays in our personal and community well-being. School field trips and student education is one of the many successes Sharing the Harvest has celebrated, and it has been most effective due to the positive impact volunteerism and community partnerships can contribute to solving community issues. Through ongoing relationships with local schools and non-profit organizations, farmers and residents, we are collectively helping to fight hunger and solve a serious community need. Thanks to volunteerism in the south coast, Sharing the Harvest is making a difference by improving the quality of life for thousands of low-income children, families and seniors in our community. Schools that visited the farm in 2013 included: Dartmouth Middle School RARE Achievers, United Way’s spring Day of Caring event (with local high school students from New Bedford High School, Greater New Bedford Vocational Technical High School, Fairhaven High School), Tabor Academy, Portsmouth Abbey School, Our Sister’s School, Carney Academy, Rodman School, Rochester Memorial School, Nativity Preparatory School, Hathaway School, DeMello School, Alma Del Mar Charter School, Southeast Massachusetts Education Collaborative and Winslow School. Thank you!
SUPPORT
Special Thanks To Our Supporters
AAA Southern New England Dr. & Mrs. George H. Abbot Acushnet Company Dorothy E. Aghai Dr. Robert Aisenberg Daniel & Nereida Amaro John Arruda Joel S. Avila Sherrie Best Big Value Outlet Black Bass Grill Robert G. Blackler Lisa Brissette David A. Brownell Mary R. Bullard Chiropractic USA at Faunce Corner Christian Science Society Derek I. Christianson Clif Bar Family Foundation Esmeralda S. Costa Cove Pediatrics, LLC Barbara A Craveiro Crystal Ice Co. Inc Darden Restaurants, Inc. Foundation Dartmouth Mall Dartmouth Rotary Club Zelinda & John Douhan Donna M Edberg Farm Credit East, ACA Fire Systems Inc. First Citizens Federal Credit Union Ernest J. Fisher & Ruth Furman Jill Fletcher Henry E. Foley, Jr. Carol Forfa Don & Mary Fronzaglia Ann-Marie Gallos Garden Club of Buzzards Bay Gaspar’s Sausage Co., Inc. Sara S. Gebhard Chuck & Beth Gormley Walter J. Granda Greater New Bedford Garden Club Philip J. Guymont Elsie & Louie Haskell Elizabeth A. Heim Humphrey, Covill & Coleman Insurance Agency, Inc. Island Foundation John George Farms Beverly & David King
Donald King Priscilla Knowlton Elizabeth Kramer Kurtz Family Fund Nancy W. Kurtz Carolyn & Robert Lytle Rebecca McCullough John & Shari McGuire Gertrude E. Medicke Marybeth Medicke Richard J Medicke Dr. David Milstone Alice Morgan Gavin Morrissey Justin Mortensen Anita K. Moses Diane M. Moses Neto Insurance Agency, Inc. Joe & Roseanne O’Connell Patrick Carney Foundation Pecora Corporation Robert R. Perry Gerald & Janet Pietsch Barbara Purdy R.P. Valois & Company, Inc. James R. Rice Ann Richard Patricia M. Ridzon Russell & Mary Robinson Roger C. Rosen, M.D. Joyce K. Rosinha Gary & Donna Schuyler Anne & Steve Sedgwick Eva Sommaripa South Wharf Yacht Yard Southern Mass Credit Union Spherion St. Anne’s Credit Union Clara P. Stites The Churchill and Janet Franklin Family Fdn The Comcast Foundation The Congregational Church of So. Dartmouth Bill & Suzy Trimble Betty Ussach-Schwartz Marge Waite & Neal Weiss Wal-Mart Foundation Peter Whelan Martha L. Yules Nancy A. Zabe Fred & Jane Zimmermann
Agricultural Production Review The 2013 growing season was our most successful to date. In 2013, Sharing the Harvest Community Farm planted, grew, and donated 60,565.4 pounds of fresh and healthy produce to the United Way’s Hunger Commission program. Thanks to the nearly 7,000 hours of volunteer service in 2013, we were able to produce and donate an additional 17,121.8 pounds of fresh vegetables as compared to 2012. The 39% increase is phenomenal and would not be possible without the thousands of hardworking volunteers who visited the farm. Coupled with the donations from the previous seven seasons, Sharing the Harvest has donated more than 207,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables to hunger relief, via the Hunger Commission, on the south coast of Massachusetts since 2006.
The Harvest in Detail
May
PRODUCE WEIGHT 175.8
June
963
July
18,958.4
August
14,850.2
September
12,299.6
MONTH
October November TOTAL
9,608 3,734.6 60,889.6
Monthly Harvest
November 3734.6 6%
May 175.8 0%
June 963 2%
Donations by Crop Crop
2013 lbs 2012 lbs
Asparagus Beets Berries Broccoli Carrots Cherry Tomatoes Cucumbers Eggplant Kale Leeks Lettuce Onions Peppers Potatoes Rhubarb Scallions Squash Swiss Chard Tomatoes Turnips Winter Squash Zucchini
123.8 196 10 44.2 419 1472.8 9152 6077.4 3678.2 92.2 187.6 64 5990.2 96.2 4.8 477.6 7798.4 582.6 4707.4 5504 9139.6 4747.4
0 906.2 0 43.8 789.2 1929.8 2092.2 3576 2183.2 279.4 74.2 168.2 3480.8 129.4 13 366.6 6139.2 572.6 6680.4 2060 9871.4 1967.6
2012-2013 Difference
2011 lbs
2010 lbs 2009 lbs
123.8 -710.2 10 0.4 -370.2 -457 7059.8 2501.4 1495 -187.2 113.4 -104.2 2509.4 -33.2 -8.2 111 1659.2 10 -500.2 3444 -731.8 2779.8
0 413 0 200.5 0 53 4140 2160.5 1880.5 337.5 73.5 699 2234 223 0 834 4276 454.5 1765.5 5075 6108 1853.5
0 224.5 0 16 4 183 3325.5 433 1406.5 118 505 279 471 91 0 321 1486 247.5 2245 2026 4912.5 15
0 211 0 15 541 -1855 171 352 20 720 90.5 179.5 112 0 112 1544 133 655 1308.5 0 11
Volunteer Information In 2013, Sharing the Harvest Community Farm had 2,648 volunteers donated a combined total of 6,982 hours of volunteer service. That is up 612 volunteers from 2,036 in 2012 and up 1,600 hours of volunteer service from 5,382 hours in 2012. This represents a 30% increase in volunteer visits from 2012 and a 29.7% increase in hours volunteered. Each year Sharing the Harvest continues to grow in respect to volunteers, and for that we are thankful, as those increased volunteer hours are easily eaten up by field work. When averaged over time, each volunteer who donated their time in 2013 donated 22.8 pounds per visit, up from 21 pounds per visit in 2012. Our 2012 Volunteer Drop-in hours remained identical for 2013. They were: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday from 9 am to 12 pm and 2 pm to 5 pm and Saturday from 9 am to 12 pm. Regarding popularity of volunteer days, the trends remained constant with Wednesday and Saturday mornings remaining the most visited days, and Tuesday morning being fairly popular too. Afternoon hours remain hit or miss.
Volunteer Hours by Month Volunteer groups that visited Sharing the Harvest in 2013 were: MassPirg, Girl Scouts of Eastern Mass, Comcast, the Rotary Club of Dartmouth, Spherion, New Bedford Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals, Habitat for Humanity, UMass Dartmouth Students and Faculty via Corsairs Care, the Congregational Church of Wareham, Work Inc., People Inc., the Trustees of Reservations Conservation Corps, the Congregational Church of South Dartmouth, Bristol County Savings Bank, PAACA’s Green Youth Brigade and PAACA’s New Bedford Youth Court, Hockamock YMCA Voyagers Camp, New Bedford Mayor’s New Directions Initiative, UMass Dartmouth’s Sustainability Summer Camp, First Citizens’ Federal Credit Union, FedEx, BankFive, New Bedford Hope Service Corps, and Farm Credit East, ACA. Additionally, regarding individual volunteers, Sharing the Harvest hosted 10 volunteer leaders who volunteered 50 hours or more, from which four leaders volunteered more than 170 hours. Thank you leaders! We could not have done it without you!
Thank You 2013 Volunteer Leaders! Tim Doolan Andre Goyer
Liz Kramer Carolyn Lytle
Patrick McCarthy Anne Morse Richard Soares Mike Miller Anita Moses Susan Wood
AmeriCorps*VISTAs In addition to the great field crew of volunteers, in 2013 Sharing the Harvest welcomed two AmeriCorps*VISTAs to our office staff to increase our organizational capacity. Starting in August, Megan Berthiaume and Ellen Selley came aboard to help Sharing the Harvest expand both our nutritional educational offerings and volunteer development, both with volunteers and volunteer leaders, respectively. Megan and Ellen are a great asset to Sharing the Harvest and through their help with outreach, volunteer communication, program expansion and organizational capacity represent a great step forward in 2013.
Working with Nature The steady growth of the farm’s volunteer hours over the past eight seasons has demonstrated that Sharing the Harvest is not only improving stewardship of the land, but also reconnecting our youth and our volunteers with nature all while enhancing the social fabric of our communities. Both the crop fields and the woods serve as an outdoor classroom for the school-age children, campers, businesses and individuals. Furthermore, the property affords itself to creating a live, dynamic environment for visitors and guests of all kinds as the property provides open access to anyone.
Volunteer Information by Month 2013 NUMBER OF VOLUNTEERS
2012 NUMBER OF VOLUNTEERS
DIFFERENCE
2013 HOURS WORKED
2012 HOURS WORKED
DIFFERENCE
January February March April
0 6 55 235
0 0 34 127
0 6 21 108
0 14 117 741
0 0 92 291
0 14 25 450
May
331
419
-98
844
1281
-437
June
252
471
-219
507
854
-347
July
421
230
191
1337
724
613
August
406
315
91
1244
957
287
September
466
191
275
1046
482
564
October
305
287
18
688
488
200
November
120
47
73
262
111
151
December
12
39
-27
40
102
-62
MONTH
Crop Diseases Crop diseases were not terrible at the farm this season, but due to heavy flooding spring rains, our tomato crop did suffer from a nasty outbreak of early blight which ultimately halved our tomato harvest from 2012. Other crop problems we encountered were in the fall, but these involved pests rather than diseases. This included a heavy outbreak of aphids on our leftover spring kale (which then spread to our fall kale) and some wireworms in the Macomber turnips.
2013 Sharing the Harvest Funding 2013 Funding Spread Funding Contributions Grants Special Events
Amount $35,159 $46,917 $4,650
% 41% 54% 5%
Infrastructural Changes While there were no dramatic infrastructural changes at Sharing the Harvest in 2013, there were some changes worth noting. The largest and most notable changes involved both the field size and the field layout. The field size increased by 30,000 square feet—roughly ¾ of an acre—at the south end of the farm while the layout changed from two sections which were 125’ and 400’ in length to three sections which were 200’ in length each. Other changes at the farm included removing the wood chips from the blueberry patch and adding a landscapers fabric to help prevent grass from growing up through the blueberry bushes.
Sharing the Harvest Farm Committee Megan Berthiaume Nancy Bonell Derek Christianson Sara Gebhard Derek W. Heim Shannon Jenkins Beverly H. King Daniel H. King
Rebecca McCullough Richard J. Medicke Justin Mortensen Roseanne O’Connell Carolyn Roberts Gary Schuyler Ellen Selley William Shell
Summary 2013 was our best season yet. Volunteers at Sharing the Harvest Community Farm planted, cultivated and donated 60,565.4 pounds of fresh, healthy produce to our neighbors in need. That tremendous donation is all thanks to the 2,648 volunteers who donated 6,982 hours of their time to 2013 possible. Without those volunteers, none of that 30 tons of produce would have been donated through the Hunger Commission of Southeastern Massachusetts to our neighbors in need. Compared to our previous season, in 2013, Sharing the Harvest donated 17,131.8 pounds more than in 2012. Making that possible was the additional 612 volunteer visits and 1,600 hours of labor donated. To set such records is great, if for no other reason than to break them the following season, so please, join us in 2014 to grow 65,000 pounds!
276 Gulf Road Dartmouth MA 02748 508.993.3361 ∙ ymcasouthcoast.org