WALDO COUNTY — A hunger-relief campaign to address food insecurity in Waldo County, Waldo County Bounty, has achieved its goal of raising $100,000. Launched in May 2020, WCB raised funds by reaching out to individual donors and businesses as well as applying for grants. 

“This is neighbors looking out for neighbors,” said Lissa Widoff, who serves on the WCB leadership team, in a news release. “This shows we are a community that cares about inequity in our local food system.”

A volunteer-driven campaign, WCB was formed during the chaotic early days of the coronavirus pandemic, when local farms lost revenue from restaurant clients and food insecurity began to rapidly increase across the county.

Having achieved its initial fundraising goal, the campaign can now work hand-in-hand with its partner farmers and food pantries through at least the 2021 growing season, the release said. This involves planting crops based on lists of high-demand fruits and vegetables provided by food pantries, including storage crops for the 2021-2022 winter period. 

WCB is now raising funds to advance its programming through the 2022-2023 season.

Immediately, WCB seeks to partner with local businesses, and interested parties can learn more about its sponsorship opportunities by emailing the campaign at waldocountybounty@gmail.com. Interested donors can make a tax-deductible donation by visiting www.waldocountybounty.org. 

This winter, WCB will spend up to $1,000 each week on available storage crops and fresh greenhouse-grown produce from local farms. It will also orchestrate distributions. Currently, it is coordinating volunteers for its 2021 Gardening and Gleaning programs. 

Thanks in part to the foresight of its leadership team, WCB made the following impacts on food insecurity in Waldo County in 2020:

• FARM-TO-PANTRY PROGRAM: Purchased approximately $20,000 worth of produce from a total of 13 of small farms from July 2020 to December 2020. It distributed the food to 16 Waldo County hunger-relief organizations with assistance from Daybreak Grower’s Alliance.
  
  
• GLEANING PROGRAM: Supported by the Veggies For All Gleaning program, it coordinated teams of volunteers to harvest and distribute nearly 25,000 pounds of excess crops. 
  
  
• GARDENING PROGRAM: Distributed fresh produce from participating home gardeners through Give and Take Tables in 10 community centers during the summer months.
• Further, the campaign worked with local partners to distribute nearly 400,000 pounds of food to Waldo County residents as part of the USDA Farm to Families food box program. 

Follow WCB on its Facebook and Instagram feeds.