Kernels - Spring 2024

Planting the Seeds

For a Thriving Community

It’s the season of plans, hopes, and dreams. A gardener plans what to seed and when, hoping the weather cooperates and the plants grow strong, and dreams of the harvest—from early greens and radishes to Brussels sprouts and pumpkins later in the fall. Like that intrepid gardener, our Vermont Foodbank community has plans, hopes, and dreams.

In this issue of Kernels, you’ll read about neighbors who are planting seeds of hope, using their voices to inspire shifts in perspective and systems that will allow for the dream of a food-secure future to bear fruit. Like a garden, policy change needs fertile soil, the right seeds, and lots of tending. At the same time, we’ll continue to be here—with your support—making sure nourishing food is available when people need it today.

Change does happen, and it can take time and a lot of hard work. Thank you for your help in enriching these growing conditions. Your strong hands are in the soil alongside ours, tending to the solutions to food insecurity. Together, let’s cultivate a food-secure and thriving Vermont.

John Sayles CEO

Work Worth Doing

Fresh foods and pantry staples are accessible to neighbors facing hunger statewide, thanks to help from friends like you and Peter.

After 36 years working as a counselor at a community college, Peter retired to Vermont and started volunteering at the Foodbank. A couple of shifts per month turned into one, two, then three days a week. More than nine years and 1,000 shifts later, Peter shares why he keeps showing up.

“Years ago, I ran into a quote by President Teddy Roosevelt… He said the greatest prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. And every time I come in here, I say to myself, This is absolutely work worth doing. I go home at the end of the day, and I’m dead-as-a-dog tired, and I gotta drive home, but I say to myself, What a great day, I’m glad I came... So that’s how 1,000 shifts goes by, I guess.”

Peter enjoys putting together food boxes for older adults at the Foodbank’s Barre warehouse. “Someday, many, many years from now, I’m going to be a senior citizen,” he chuckles, then grows serious. “And I hope somebody puts one of these boxes together for me.”

“I used to go out and meet the trucks that would deliver the boxes… The truck would pull in and there’d be 30 or 40 cars waiting there in line. You’d put the box in somebody’s backseat, and they would just have this look of relief on their face.”

“I tell the other volunteers that, and I say, ‘These boxes, it’s not just a box of cans. This is really important stuff, for whoever’s getting that box.’”

Once a week, on his way home, Peter delivers a

carload of fresh produce from the Foodbank to the food shelf in his town.

“I think sometimes folks feel like there’s so many issues, there’s so many problems in the world that need solving, and everything’s complicated. But bringing a load of vegetables is not complicated. Bringing a [food box] to the trunk of somebody’s car, it’s not complicated.”

“As an organization, I think the Foodbank is obviously having a tremendous impact on a lot of peoples’ lives…Where would Vermont be if this organization wasn’t here? How different would so many people’s lives be? So, it’s good to be a part of it... This is clearly work worth doing.”

Keeping Vermont nourished is a big job that wouldn’t be possible without dedicated community members like you and Peter. Thanks for continuing to show up.

Check out current volunteer opportunities at vtfoodbank.org/volunteer.

A Mom Shares Her Experience, to Help Build Awareness

Tara is a holistic nutrition consultant and a trained chef from Montpelier, who also offers postpartum support to mothers in Vermont. She’s a single mom, has her own business, and volunteers in her community serving food to unhoused neighbors. And she has faced food insecurity over the last 20 years.

Tara is familiar with trying to access the federally funded, stateadministered program called SNAP (known in Vermont as 3SquaresVT, sometimes called “food stamps”) that provides money for income-eligible people to purchase groceries—and how challenging it can be, especially during moments of crisis.

“I feel like I’m a very well-spoken, highly educated individual. I’ve been a mother for 21 years, and I didn’t know how to begin. I didn’t. I didn’t. It just felt completely overwhelming to me,” she says.

Today, Tara has 3SquaresVT benefits for her and her son, and she wants to share her experience so that other people in Vermont who could use food help, know help is there.

You’re part of the community effort making sure families and neighbors have the ingredients to enjoy nourishing meals.

Vermont Foodbank, with help from you, has a team of dedicated staff who work statewide to offer individual assistance for the 3SquaresVT application process—including helping to determine if individuals qualify, as well as application and follow-up support. Tara was able to access personal assistance from this team, and weeks later was receiving monthly food budget support through 3SquaresVT.

For Tara, the one-on-one assistance was a gamechanger. She had been parenting on her own while

working and recovering from hardships for the past few years. She explains, “And so you take all that, and you’re already quiet. You’re already succumbed. You’re already completely invisible in some ways... I don’t even know where she came from. But somebody, somehow, I connected with Sarah [at Vermont Foodbank].

“To have a real live person with a real-life phone number who actually called me, who emailed me... that made all the difference. And that is the only reason I was fine. I’m finally on food stamps after being a single mother three times and not being able to figure out the system,” she shares.

Your support, for programs like the 3SquaresVT outreach team, has helped countless mothers, families, and individuals gain access to important food access resources and dignified food budget support.

Tara wants people to know they are not alone in facing tough choices with household budgets, and that help is there.

“The food, you know I would say that food was the first to go for me...there’s electricity, there’s gas. There’s my car. There’s car insurance. There’s the rent, the food. I was really trying to get myself under $50 a week [for food]. I actually stopped taking [my son] grocery shopping with me… because I couldn’t afford for him to make the kind of choices that he wanted. And, I didn’t want to keep saying no. And so, I would go by myself.”

Tara says that 3SquaresVT is helping her to build a secure home for herself and her child.

She describes getting the internet set up and building business opportunities. She also shares the day-to-day impact on her and her son.

“[After getting 3SquaresVT I was able to make] brown rice with chicken legs and herbs and onions. Oh, my gosh! And then my son made an apple crisp,” she says. “And being able to grocery shop with him again after a year and a half of not letting him come with me. It’s like, Oh, that’s remarkable.”

Tara explains why it’s important to her to share her experience, “If my voice, if my words, helps any woman, mother especially, navigate that system... What helped was having my hand held and showing me how to do things.”

“I don’t feel ashamed. I feel so proud of myself.”

If you’re inspired to share your own story, please visit vtfoodbank.org/share-your-story.

Meet 3SquaresVT Team Member Sarah

I’m so grateful I’m able to take the time to really connect with neighbors and provide ongoing support in my role as a Vermont Foodbank 3SquaresVT program specialist. The federal policies that govern 3SquaresVT are very complex, so applying for and staying on benefits can sometimes be challenging, confusing, and time-consuming. My team and I are here to help reduce some of that burden, be advocates, and provide whatever level of support is wanted. I’ve spoken with so many amazing individuals—it’s been an honor to hear their stories and experiences!”

Advocating for a Food-Secure Vermont

Matthew works at Foodworks food shelf, one of the 353 community organizations that partners with Vermont Foodbank to ensure food access throughout the state. Matthew knows firsthand the challenges of feeding a family on a tight budget— especially since the federal government cut 3SquaresVT benefits last spring. Now he’s sharing his experience with policymakers to help make change.

Matthew lives in Brattleboro and started volunteering at Foodworks food shelf in 2023— stocking shelves, checking in visitors, and unloading trucks of food arriving from Vermont Foodbank. “Usually, I’m behind the table at the distribution area,” Matthew says. “Talking to the customers, getting them the items that they’d like.”

“Some people come in and they are excited to see the produce we have…Other people are happy to get food, period…There’s such a variety of what people are interested in because there’s such a cross-section of people coming here, and different people with different dietary needs and different preferences.”

Thanks to your support, food shelves and meal sites statewide have a variety of foods ready and available when people need it—from pantry

staples to protein, dairy, and fresh produce.

Now, Matthew is a staff member at Foodworks. He also supplements his family’s groceries with food he gets there. He says the types of food available inspire him to cook more.

“I grew up on TV dinners and snacks and such. I’ve been trying to branch out my tastes a bit… I made stuffed bell peppers, which was really great,” says Matthew. “Just seeing all the food that comes through here, like a lot of produce and stuff. We never really got things like that when I was growing up…That influenced me a lot.”

Matthew says his family has been impacted since the federal government cut SNAP benefits (called 3SquaresVT in Vermont, also known as “food stamps”) a year ago. SNAP is a program

that provides people with money each month to buy groceries.

“That’s what we were using for food. We didn’t have much in the way of actual income, that was our food budget,” explains Matthew. “I do a lot of the shopping in my household… So, I have to try to budget it out. Trying to feed five people on over $1,000 a month is a lot different than trying to do the same thing with less than $400. It is this massive change.”

don’t own a car…which also makes things a lot more difficult because I can only get what I can physically carry to the bus and back.”

If people can’t get food from their food stamps, they have to get it from other places. They can’t just adjust to what’s happening—they have to find other ways to make it work.”

“I’ve been doing a lot of shopping around to find where the prices are better...Keeping an eye on sales…Not only do I not have a license, we also

“We’ll run out of money 15 days in and we’ll have to adjust the rest of the month with what we can,” shares Matthew. “[The higher SNAP benefits] we had before allowed us to comfortably get through the month, for the most part. Sure, there were still issues. But we were able to eat.”

When asked what he wants policymakers to know, Matthew pauses. “I don’t know how to word it in a way to convince people of the urgency of this. But I’ve seen it firsthand. Not only in my own family, but also at Foodworks, connecting with people with the same issues, day-to-day trying to keep themselves and their families afloat. It’s really difficult.”

“If people can’t get food from their food stamps, they have to get it from other places. They can’t just adjust to what’s happening—they have to find other ways to make it work.”

Community members like you and Matthew are helping make sure neighbors across Vermont have enough nourishing food today, while working toward long-term solutions for a food-secure Vermont. Whether you share your voice, advocate for change, make a donation, or volunteer your time, you are helping grow a stronger community and a more vibrant state.

You and Matthew are helping make sure food is accessible when neighbors need it today, while planting the seeds for a food-secure future.

“I’ve found a lot of joy in it,” Matthew says about working with Foodworks. “I’m really passionate about what we do here.”

To help advocate for state and federal policies that ensure we can all access the food we need, sign up for advocacy alerts at vtfoodbank.org/advocacy

Nourishing Kids & Families This Summer

Summer’s just around the corner—and it can be one of the most difficult seasons for families facing hunger. When school is out, thousands of children in Vermont lose access to the free breakfast and lunch programs they rely on. Faced with the high prices of everyday essentials, many parents and caregivers will find it especially hard to put food on the table this summer.

That’s why your commitment to nourishing your community is crucial.

With your help, children and families can access the nourishing food they need during school breaks. And it’s about more than just food…

You can also help provide security and peace of mind, so every kid in Vermont can enjoy the summer as it should be: full of laughter, relaxation, and cold, juicy slices of watermelon.

When you make a gift of $35 today, you can help provide a family with $145 worth of food this summer.

Or, consider making a monthly gift to provide reliable meals during summer break and for the rest of the year.

The need for food assistance is already high. Families with low incomes are hit the hardest by high grocery prices, with the USDA reporting that 31.2% of their income is spent on food, compared with 8% for wealthier households. Our network of food access sites has been seeing an increase in visitors around the state. We are anticipating that when school is out, and daily school meal programs become unavailable, the need for food at home will increase.

Together, we can help make sure enough nourishing food is available for kids, families, and neighbors across Vermont.

If you or someone you know could use help accessing food, please be in touch. Our contact information is below, and our website is available in eight languages common to Vermont.