I went and bruised my coconut a few weeks back while moving one of the town bike racks by myself from the Adaptive Sports 24 Hour Townie Tour right of way through the Crested Butte Farmers Market. I think I got a concussion and I have been forgetting names even more frequently than usual. You’ll have to pardon me over any mental lapses while my bruised melon heals up.
This year the Crested Butte Farmers Market has partnered with the Gunnison County Department of Health and Human Services WIC Program. Colorado is one of 12 state agencies that do not participate in the Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP). This means that participants cannot redeem their government issued vouchers at farmer markets and must redeem their vouchers for questionably produced corporate cheese. This flies directly in the face of the mission statement of the WIC program which is to get nutritionally at risk mothers and children access to the highest nutrition possible.
There is now political backing at the state level here in Colorado to support a CO FMNP however there is a problem. Before new programs can be instituted and funded, existing programs that have had their funding removed must be refunded at their previous levels. Economic crisis being what it is, it will be a long time coming before Colorado is able to begin funding new programs let alone re-funding programming that has been removed regardless of the political backing.
Here is the good news: The Crested Butte Farmers Market has taken the initiative within the Gunnison Valley to finance $80 in WIC vouchers per registered participant from Almont north. We printed out the professional materials and vouchers at our own expense and we delivered the WIC coupons to Kim Bemis at the Gunnison County Health and Human Services offices. These coupons may be redeemed at the CB Farmers Market. They represent an additional funding to the registered WIC participants. They will still receive the full amount of vouchers from the county that they usually receive and the bonus of $80 to be spent on the freshest produce in the valley at the Crested Butte Farmers Market. Our local economy is doing that well. We realize that $80 is not a tremendous amount of money however it’s a bonus to what the participants receive. If the money is used wisely to purchase bulk cases and preserved effectively then it will become even more valuable. We are also running a food preservation workshop class each week through the summer at the Depot in Crested Butte. Please call (970)-901-0748 for more information.
In addition to the WIC program we are operating a new policy that allows our food vendors to pay their market fees with in-kind donation. This means that our farmers get more money to take home with them to continue the sustainable farming efforts and Crested Butte receives more food into its food shed and food bank operations. As of last week I think we’ve donated something like 100 lbs of the best food in town to the Crested Butte food bank based out of the Oh-Be-Joyful Baptist Church. No reject canned goods, dehydrated macaroni and cheese or well packaged, highly processed trash. This is straight up the most healthy food in the county coming into the homes of our community that need the assistance. This is serious community service in a time when most governmental organizations are clipping the finances to such necessary programming. We will not be exploited by the hand of global economy.