Fresh Farmacy
Local Food Hub seeks to ensure that everyone, regardless of demographics or address, can easily access healthy local food. We launched the Fresh Farmacy: Fruit and Veggie Prescription Program to serve people with low food access and who are at risk for diet related illness. Through Fresh Farmacy, low-resource households receive biweekly shares of 6-9 locally and regionally sourced items, along with educational materials designed to empower participants in the kitchen.
In its first five years, the program partnered with six health clinics and served almost 300 people a year. In 2020, in response to the pandemic, we more than doubled the participants the program served, expanded the season, began providing shares weekly instead of biweekly, and offered home delivery. In 2022, the program leveled out at serving 435 participants on a biweekly basis.
Fresh Farmacy also serves as an important sales outlet for some of our smallest partner farms, which sell food to Local Food Hub for the shares.