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The First Presbyterian
Farmer's Market stand includes:
Baked goods
High demand products include specialty
breads, fudge, cookies, pies, and brownies.
Produce
A wide variety of seasonal items
including corn, beans, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, peppers, melons,
potatoes and more. Both standard and specialty/heirloom products can
be found at the stand
Fair trade coffee and tea products
Rich roasts, decaffeinated coffee and
flavored brands are available in whole bean, grinds, and pillow packs.
Three varieties of fair trade teas are offered as well.
IN THE NEWS
Buying
Local, Going Global
PA church’s farmers market supports Presbyterian Hunger
Program
by Bethany Furkin, Presbyterian News Service
Posted 4/29/2009
Source link:
http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09353.htm
 The
farmers market at First Presbyterian Church in Warren, PA, offers more
than fresh produce and baked goods — it also helps provide hunger
relief to people across the country and globe.
This year, the farmers market donated $7,000 to the Presbyterian
Hunger Program, which fights hunger in the United States and around
the world through direct food relief, development assistance, public
policy influence, lifestyle integrity and education and
interpretation.
First Presbyterian Church has been donating to the program for the
past seven years — about $45,000 in all — said Bill Dyke, treasurer of
the farmers market.
All the products sold at the church’s booth have been donated, and the
stand is staffed by a rotation of church member volunteers. Popular
items include pecan rolls and three-pound pies, Dyke said, adding that
the freshness of the produce is also a huge draw.
“Locally produced, fresh produce is better than anything you can buy
in the store,” he said. “Ours is picked the morning we sell it.”
In addition to providing fresh produce, farmers markets have several
benefits, said Andrew Kang Bartlett, associate for national hunger
concerns for the Presbyterian Hunger Program.
“There are a whole slew of positive ripples from selling locally at
farmers markets,” he said.
Farmers markets support local farmers, allowing them to stay on their
land and reducing development. Buying locally helps protect local food
sources, providing food security as well as reducing the economic and
environmental costs of shipping food across wide distances.
“By having farmers markets around an area, you make healthy food more
accessible to a greater number of people,” Kang Bartlett said, adding
farmers markets have a personal appeal as well. “It allows you to
develop a relationship with the people who are making your food.”
 First
Presbyterian Church had been looking at ways to tie in its connection
with the farmers market to a mission program of some sort when the
idea of donating money to the hunger program came up. With the
connecting tie of food, the two organizations were a good match.
“(The church) decided that this would be a worthy project,” Dyke said.
As time went on, the church became more involved with the farmers
market, bringing in more vendors and working to promote the market to
the community. The market recently received a government grant that
will help purchase highway signs and cloth bags, and the market is
publicized everywhere from to the city chamber of commerce and the
local newspaper to a real estate agency.
“Our church is really spearheading the whole farmers market at this
point,” Dyke said. “Everybody knows where the Presbyterians are coming
from.”
In addition to the standard farmers market fare of fruits, vegetables
and baked goods, First Presbyterian Church also offers fair trade
coffee at its booth.
Churches interested in starting their own farmers markets are
encouraged to contact other churches with markets for advice and ways
to get started. To find such churches in your area, contact the
Presbyterian Hunger Program at (888) 728-7228. |
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