What is Fresh Food Friday?
Fresh Food Friday is pantry service we provide the first Friday of every month. It is currently a two hour pantry held from 10:00am to 12:00pm. Coming soon in the fall, it’ll be a one hour pantry every first Friday. At FFF’s we only provide fresh produce from our garden or from Linn Benton Food Share, these differ from the Shopping Style Pantries where we walk clients through the pantry to get dry goods.
Why do we have a pantry dedicated to produce?
Ask yourself, how often you eat something that has come directly from a tree, the ground or a plant? Did you eat a fruit or vegetable today? Yesterday? Students don’t have easy access to affordable produce. That’s why we provide produce at our shopping style pantries as well as our Fresh Food Friday’s. The last year we learned a lot at the HSRC and our goal is for everyone who walks away from our Fresh Food Friday to have a few days worth of fresh produce.
Students and fresh produce? Is it an actual need?
To put it simply, yes! We also connect students to a resource here in Oregon called SNAP that can get them a monthly allowance to buy expensive items like produce.
Below are some real examples of students expressing interest in produce.
“A few weeks ago, we helped a student sign up for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, commonly known as food stamps), connecting her to $192 in monthly grocery money. She was emotional as she shared that she’d been getting all her food from the dollar store and was so excited to be able to afford some fresh produce and buys salads again.” – Miguel Arellano Sanchez, Basic Needs Navigator at HSRC
“Having SNAP has been so great. I am less stressed about buying food. My month started again last week. I invited my friends over for dinner this Sunday and I even bought asparagus & salad!” – Student
– Breonna
