The United States Department of Agriculture recently awarded a Senior Farmer’s Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) grant to the Colorado Department of Human Services to provide fresh produce for 1,000 low-income seniors. These groups teamed up with FBR on August 18 to distribute locally grown fruit stand vegetables from local growers to Colorado seniors as a result of this first time grant. In 2011, 51 State agencies received grants to operate the SFMNP. We were thrilled to be added as a recipient this year. Nutrition education and information was also provided to senior recipients, encouraging seniors to improve and expand their diets through produce items.
Included in each box was watermelon, cantaloupe, two cucumbers, yellow squash, green peppers, head of cabbage, three one pound bags of carrots, one three pound bag of onions, six ears of corn, one acorn squash, a five pound bag of potatoes, six peaches and one bundle each of green leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce and fresh spinach.
It was awesome to see so many of our neighbors in need being provided with healthy produce that is so often too expensive to purchase! We hope to receive this grant again next year!