Last Sunday, as the snow was falling outside, Member-Owners and staff members were busy inside Hunger Mountain Coop packing enough groceries to feed over 1,000 people in Washington County. The Coop’s community distribution partners braved the icy roads and arrived with helping hands to pick up the holiday grocery bags donated by The Coop.
Coop Member-Owners and staff packed over $45,000 worth of donated food in six hours. “This was by far our most successful Holiday Grocery Pack to date,” said Krissy Ruddy, Hunger Mountain Coop’s Community Relations Manager. “This year we partnered with Northfield Savings Bank to increase the amount of food we were able to purchase to pack the bags. I was blown away by how our community came together to donate, pack and deliver all this great food in such a short period of time. We couldn’t have done this without all the individuals that contributed.”
The Coop was able to obtain groceries to fill the bags through the support of Northfield Savings Bank, its Member-Owners and customers who donated at the registers in November and December, and from local and regional food vendors who generously donated product. Bags were filled with all natural pasta, Bove’s tomato sauce, organic cereals, fresh loaves of La Panciata bread, Vermont-grown apples, organic oranges, Vermont Coffee Company coffee and other healthy, all natural foods.
Other vendors who contributed included: Albert’s Organics, Amy’s Kitchen, Annie’s, Bionaturae, Bob’s Red Mill, Bove’s, Chex Finer Foods, Chunks of Energy, Clif Bar, Country Choice Organic, Crofter’s, Delverde Pasta, Field Day, Food Should Taste Good, G.Housen, Green Mountain Gringo, Jovial, La Panciata Bakery, Mark Hackenberry and Jamie Schultz at Haddon House Food Products, MOM Brand Cereals, Natural Sea, Once Again Nut Butters, Pacific Natural Foods, Q.Bel Foods, Runa Tea, R.W. Knudsen, Scott Farm, Turtle Island Foods, United Natural Foods, Inc, Vermont Coffee Company, and Yogi Tea.
The food was distributed by area organizations including Barre Schools, Montpelier Senior Center, Washington Elves Program, Washington County Family Center, Central Vermont Council on Aging, Central Vermont Home and Hospice, Union Elementary, the Vermont Foodbank, and the Montpelier Food Pantry, just in time for the holidays.
