Louisville, Ky., — The fight for food justice just got a little easier thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Humana Foundation to New Roots, Inc., a local organization that believes access to fresh food is a basic human right, by enabling over 1800 families from across the Commonwealth and southern Indiana to access affordable, organic farm-fresh food from 50 Kentucky family farms.
New Roots and partners from the Humana Foundation, Smoketown Fresh Stop Market @ Coke Memorial UMC, Russell Fresh Stop Market @ Joshua Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, and Councilwoman Barbara Sexton Smith will be on hand at Coke Memorial UMC, 428 East Breckinridge Street at 1 PM on Tuesday, October 31st, to speak a few words and answer questions from the media and welcome the community to the Smoketown Fresh Stop Market.
“The Humana Foundation’s new grant brings their total investment in New Roots to more than $300,000 toward our strategy to unite communities to spread food justice,” remarks New Roots founding Executive Director Karyn Moskowitz. “This investment toward building a strong foundation for New Roots will enable us to connect more communities asking for bewitching broccoli, boo-tiful beets, and plentiful pumpkins to the family farms who can make it happen, and help us spread the model across Kentucky and throughout the South.”
Karyn is referring to New Root’s wildly popular FRESH STOP MARKETS, which are “pop up” farm-fresh food markets set up at local churches and community centers in neighborhoods facing barriers to accessing the farm-fresh food we all need to be happy and healthy. The food has been paid for in advance so that farmers don’t face the same degree of risk as they do with a standard farmers’ market. Families pool their money and SNAP benefits to purchase in bulk from local farmers on a sliding scale. Each family receives a “share” of seasonal produce that feeds 2-3 people, depending on the Fresh Stop Market. People in the community describe Fresh Stop Markets as welcoming and happy – like a family reunion where all five senses are engaged and there is lots of laughter, food and fun!
New Roots facilitated 14 Fresh Stop Market locations this growing season – nine in Louisville, two in southern Indiana, two in Lexington, one in Hazard, Ky., and one in Brandenburg, Ky. New neighborhoods being considered for next season include two in West Louisville and one in the historic Berrytown Neighborhood in the East End. Please go to www.newroots.org for more information on New Roots and the Fresh Stop Markets.
