Did you know that 1 in 4 people in Austin are or have been food insecure, or lacking dependable access to sufficient amounts of economical and nutritious food? That's 25% of our Austin community! Can you believe it? Depending on the area, up to even 40% of people do not have easy access to fresh and affordable food, and in neighborhoods where busy thoroughfares inundate the cityscape and sidewalks are lacking, folks who do not have vehicular access risk their lives daily to purchase groceries to feed their family. Despite sounding abysmal, there's a lot that we can all do to help, and if you are a part of the CSA community, have you thought about sharing the harvest this holiday season?

SafePlace donation. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

If your family is headed out of town for the holidays, or if you're trying to avoid an overflowing fridge, we hope you will consider donating your CSA share to The Settlement Home or SafePlace. With the produce received from JBG, The Settlement Home provides nutritious meals and teaches the girls it serves how to cook. Thanks to the weekly deliveries from JBG, SafePlace is able to stock its pantry with fresh organic vegetables (instead of canned goods) for the women and children living in their shelter. Your donated share helps feed children, young adults, and families in Texas with histories of trauma, abuse, and neglect. Donating your share is easy and helps secure nutrition for these folks in need. Just email us (farm@jbgorganic.com) with the dates you would like to donate your share(s), and we'll do the rest! Need your vegetables for your holiday meal but still want to help those in need? Sponsoring a share is easy, too. Find more information about that program here. In addition to our Sponsored Share program, Central Texas Food Bank (CTFB) and Salvation Army pick up veggies once a week. In 2016, we donated 26,100 lbs of veggies, or 31,320 meals to CTFB! With the help from our CSA community and our Sponsored Share program, we donate around 2400 lbs of veggies, or 2900 meals per year to both SafePlace and The Settlement Home. That's a whole lot of vegetables!

Central Texas Food Bank donations. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Casey carting donations in. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Speaking of local warriors toiling against food insecurity... Ever heard of Music, Tech, and Food? This new nonprofit in town seeks to bring two thriving Austin communities together, Music and Tech, to promote hunger awareness, and via ticket sales to regularly scheduled music events, donate farm-fresh food to local shelters and pantries. Pretty cool, eh? Read more about it here and get involved! 'Til next time, folks!