Buy Out the Market

media release: The Westside Community Market, Healthy Food For All of Dane County and the Meadowood Neighborhood Center Pantry are inviting the community to join us on Saturday, June 21st to Buy Out The Market. Building on HFFA’s popular Buy One For A Neighbor program, Buy Out The Market days are an appeal to the entire community to come to a local market and literally buy everything to immediately donate to needy neighbors.

“We want to do everything we can to help our farmers thrive and also ensure neighbors in need get access to more fresh local produce.” according to Ben Zimmerman, Westside Community Market manager. “We know the community understands that strong local farmers and markets are critical to long term food security for all of us.”

New and innovative ways to support local farmers and address growing food insecurity are needed now more than ever. The current reality in Madison neighborhoods is that more people are becoming increasingly food insecure just as resources for food support are being drastically cut back. Just when we need local farmers to rapidly scale up to meet growing demand, cuts to USDA Local Food Purchasing. Farm to School and SNAP programs are eliminating a critical source of income.

“The number of people visiting our pantry is growing so we really encourage folks to come Buy Out The Market to support both local farmers and residents facing food insecurity.” says Kesheria Walker, Meadowood Neighborhood Center Pantry Manager. “This is a great way to show how Madison works together to take care of our own!”

The first Westside Buy Out The Market Day will be Saturday, June 21, from 8:30 am-12:30 pm at the Westside Community Market at 505 S. Rosa Road. Organizers are asking everyone to come to the Market, buy produce or other food from one of the vendors and immediately donate it at HFFA’s Buy One For A Neighbor booth. Donations will be loaded into waiting vans and taken directly to the Meadowood Neighborhood Center Pantry.

Buy Out The Market builds off of HFFA’s Buy One For A Neighbor (BOFAN) program that operates every week at the Northside, Eastside and Westside markets. BOFAN asks shoppers at the weekly markets to buy and immediately donate produce to share with neighbors in need. Each market is paired with a specific nearby neighborhood pantry operation that distributes the produce to families who surely appreciate the lovely fresh food.

For more information about Healthy Food for All of Dane County, check out our facebook page or website. We are always recruiting new volunteers to help us expand BOFAN and our other work and encourage anyone interested in helping build a more just and sustainable food system to join in!

For more information about Buy Out The Market or Buy One For A Neighbor, contact Joe at  minglejoseph@gmail.com or 608.332.1493. If you aren’t able to attend the Market and want us to do the shopping for you, you can always make a donation to HFFA’s Emergency Food Fund.

For more information about the Westside Community Market, visit their website or facebook page. You can contact Ben directly at manager.wcm@gmail.com or 608-628-8879.

For more information about the Meadowood Neighborhood Center, visit their website page. You can contact Kesheria directly at kswalker@madison.k12.wi.us or 608-622-1670.