Making a Difference Every Week!

Every week at the Seasonal Roots Hub, a flurry of activity erupts when our partners pull up with their loads of freshly harvested and handcrafted local foods. Our Hub team rolls into action, organizing farmers market items such as Eat Smart’s delicious prepared foods, Flour Garden’s fresh-baked breads and pastries, Richlands Dairy Farm’s milk and yogurt and the bounty of produce from a variety of local farmers. The team prepares the custom orders to get it ready for our Veggie Fairies to deliver them to members across Virginia and parts of Maryland.

When packing days are over and everything has been delivered to all our members, there’s often a surplus of vegetables with nowhere to go. Part of our mission is to support a healthy environment, so of course we don’t want any fresh, tasty, good-for-you produce to go to waste. Fortunately, our Community Partnership Coordinator, Marie is on the case! Marie makes sure none of nature’s bounty goes to the landfill.

“Our donation schedule starts on Wednesday, when we give items identified as surplus to Joe and Jameson from Fonticello Food Forest,” Marie says. Fonticello Food Forest supplies community pantries and free farm stands to help those in need. Next, after all of the Thursday deliveries are complete, Marie rounds up the leftovers and divides the food donations among other equally worthy community organizations.

“Seasonal Roots donates a large amount of produce to St. Thomas’ Food Pantry,” Marie shares. “Kristin is the coordinator there, and either Paul or Traci are the volunteers that come pick up.” Marie continues: “We also love working with the wonderful Wonnease from 5Loaves. When she initially started coming here, she only took a few boxes of produce. We have developed a great relationship and she’s really expanded her operation serving seniors who live in food deserts. She’s always so sweet — sometimes she even brings the workers at the Hub cookies!” CBS6 recently interviewed both Wonnease and members of the Seasonal Roots team to learn more about the partnership with 5LOAVES. For more about how this local non-profit is making a difference, click here.

The donations don’t end there! “One of several volunteers from “Richmond Food Not Bombs” comes to pick up next. They cook big meals and distribute them to houseless folks.” says Marie. After that, we have a variety of other smaller-scale efforts to distribute directly to communities and food pantries. Last but not least, there are additional scraps not fit for human consumption. Now you might think we just throw that away… NOT! According to Marie, “Additional donations are made to farmers for animal feed including goat farmer Donna, pig farmer MaryMay, and Cattle Run Farm.”

Marie has turned food donations into an art. Every week she makes sure there’s enough to go around and we’re so grateful for all the work she does to help our community. We also are thrilled to be able to share healthy food to help our community grow stronger.