Dear Local Food Hub Supporters,
Recently two Local Food Hub supporters, Elizabeth Birdsall and Karen Beauford, put together a letter writing campaign to introduce the Local Food Hub project to members of our community and ask for their financial support. I wanted to share this letter with you and let you know that it is yielding immediate results. Our community continues to be generous and supportive of the Local Food Hub mission. Thank you all!
Fundraising support letter follows:
We write to ask you to join us in making an infrastructure investment in our community by becoming a founding patron of The Local Food Hub. As citizens of the Thomas Jefferson Planning district interested in improving our community’s fiscal and physical health in a meaningful and lasting manner that benefits all area residents, we cannot think of a more timely and important project than The Local Food Hub. Conceived and established by Kate Collier, co-owner of Feast!, The Local Food Hub is a new non-profit organization whose mission is:
-To increase the availability of locally grown foods to all area residents
-To improve the efficiency of our local food system
-To support current farms and incubate new ones
-To increase farm income and maximize year-round local food availability
The Food Hub will reach these goals by:
-Providing centralized distribution, consolidation and warehousing at a licensed wholesale facility that is a large and dependable customer to local farms of all sizes
-Offering networking services that facilitate community connections to accomplish concrete local food system goals
-Establishing processing services for the production of sauces, condiments and preserves
Customers and beneficiaries of Local Food Hub products will include grocers and restaurants, but also senior centers, schools and food banks. The Local Food Hub will re-establish a sustainable local food system that will bolster our economy, better our residents’ access to nutritious foods, preserve our region’s farmland and diminish the carbon foot-print of the meals we consume. If you are concerned about the industrialization and globalization of our country’s food system, supporting The Local Food Hub is a great first step in reversing those trends.
According to its business plan, The Local Food Hub will be a self-sustaining non-profit by it’s fifth year, but in the meantime it needs our direct financial support. The organization is currently raising the last of its start-up funds. $165,000 of starting funds has been secured through foundation grants, private donations and in-kind contributions. This auspicious start will allow the Hub to occupy its space and become marginally operational in time for this growing season. However, The Hub requires an additional $65,000 to complete its start-up needs and ensure that it makes a meaningful impact in its first year of operation. Please help us reach that goal by making a fully tax-deductible contribution today. To learn more about the Local Food Hub, please contact Marisa Vrooman, Director of Development and Membership, at vavavroom@mac.com or 434.960.0155
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Birdsall and Karen Beauford
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