Our community and nation face enormous challenges; economically disadvantaged populations with limited access to nutritious food, a disconnection from where our food is grown and how, declines in new farmers and a lack of essential life skills in the kitchen and garden. The Vegetable Connection addresses these challenges through our unique and life changing programming.
Feeding the Families assist economically challenged families connect to a local farm where they receive vegetables each week during the growing season. The vegetable shares are subsidized based on the family’s income. Our goal is to increase the amount and variety of vegetables families consume.
The Nutrition Education provides workshops in a variety of formats and locations. They typically include gardening, cooking, and food preservation techniques. It also provides food tastings with recipes at our farm partners and farmers’ markets. Our goal is to empower families with knowledge about nutritious food so they can make good decisions about what they eat.
In Larimer County, more than 40,000 residents are hungry and 1 in 5 Poudre School District children are considered food insecure. This means they are not sure they will have food to eat every day. Though we wholeheartedly acknowledge and support the work of organizations like our own that provide families with food, we believe that giving food to families is a temporary solution. Education is an important component that empowers people with the skills and knowledge to become productive and responsible citizens with skills that last a lifetime.
We Aim to Engage, Empower and Educate.
Why is this important? Hear from some of our families:
Without the help of The Vegetable Connection, we would not have been able to afford the CSA share. My husband is a social worker and I stay at home with our kids. Not only did this wonderful program help us afford the CSA, it also exposed us to tastings of new foods and taught us how to make sauerkraut. Thank you. Thank you for your generosity, your willingness to teach us new skills and for helping make sure we had healthy food in our home each week.
Thank you for allowing our family to share our gratitude for The Vegetable Connection. This year, thanks to you, we were able to have a CSA share with Laughing Buck farm. Our seven year old was thrilled to go out to the farm each week and help harvest fresh vegetables, from juicy tomatoes to leafy kale to stubborn carrots that wanted to stay in the ground. It was a major highlight for us to be able to teach her how the various vegetables were grown and where they come from. Our seven year old has numerous allergies and fresh produce is a safe, healthy choice for her and for our whole family.
This was a very educational and positive experience for our kids as well as us. My young boys were able to see the farm and help pickup/ harvest the food. Choices for dinner was centered around what we received from the CSA which created a healthier option.
Without assistance, my financial resources don’t allow me to consume as many fresh vegetables. I couldn’t have afforded a vegetable share without it! It was how I ate all summer. Thank you!!
The classes and workshops were so helpful as well. Thank you!!
The Vegetable Connection has helped us out so much this year. Buying good quality produce is expensive and buying new types of vegetables feels like a financial risk. The Vegetable Connection made it possible for us to have a variety of high quality produce each week.
Couldn’t eat healthy without this program! Was just diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, I suffer from severe inflammation and eating healthy, organic foods has helped me and my family. I’ve lost 13 pounds and feel better every day? Thank You!
