White River Junction
The crowd gathers once a month in the VA parking lot for VeggieVanGo, a program operated by the Vermont Foodbank that delivers free fresh produce to communities at some schools and hospitals around the state.
“It helps a lot of people,” said Norman Dion, an Army veteran who lives in White River Junction, as he waited in line. “Most all of the produce is pretty good.”
Through VeggieVanGo, now in its third year, the Foodbank aims to bring fresh produce to people who may not otherwise have access to such food. Other sites in the Upper Valley include Springfield (Vt.) Hospital, Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center in Windsor and the Orange County Parent Child Center in Tunbridge.
“One of the reasons we do them at the hospitals (is) that’s where people are,” Foodbank CEO John Sayles said in an interview earlier this month. “We have limited resources to put into that program. (We’d) like to be doing them at every school and hospital in the state.”
VeggieVanGo’s stop at the Orange County Parent Child Center on the second Tuesday of each month is an unusual opportunity for people to access fresh produce locally, in an area where there are few grocery stores, said Mary Ellen Otis, one of the center’s co-executive directors.
Families that participate in the center’s early care and education programs use VeggieVanGo, as do other families who do not use the center’s services, Otis said via email. The center’s employees often bring produce to families when they make home visits, she said.
“The children in our programs love it!” Otis wrote. “I think they are encouraged to try produce when they help their parents pick out the fruits and veggies they want to take home. Often the children leave with a fresh, nutritious apple to munch on during the ride home.”
On Friday, the VeggieVanGo offerings included onions, cabbage, potatoes, apples and tomatoes. During the monthly event, participants take what they need from bins beneath the tent with the assistance of volunteers and a Vermont Foodbank driver and warehouse worker, Glenn Britton.
The White River Junction event — which is usually on the fourth Monday of the month, but was moved because of Memorial Day — usually sees about 250 people each time, Britton said. On Friday, he brought about 5,000 pounds of food, which he expected would run out.
Some people pick up produce for themselves, while others pick up for those who can’t make it out themselves, Britton said.
“It’s been doing great,” he said of the program.
VeggieVanGo is supported by volunteers, including several from Hypertherm, Britton said.
“If it wasn’t for the volunteers, this program wouldn’t be happening,” he said.
White River Junction VA spokeswoman Katherine Tang said VeggieVanGo has been a success.
“Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and we hope to continue this partnership for many years to come,” she said in an email earlier this month. “White River Junction VA Medical Center and our Community Outpatient Clinics are dedicated to not only our veterans but also our community. This partnership with Vermont Foodbank is one of the many ways we try to give back.”
The origins of the food available through VeggieVanGo changes with the seasons. In the winter, the Foodbank purchases the food from Canada, said Sayles, the Foodbank’s CEO. In the summer months, the offerings will include food gleaned from area farms.
And this year, the organization has started a new program, Vermonters Feeding Vermonters, through which it has begun purchasing produce from Vermont farms, Sayles said. Some of those purchases will come to people through VeggieVanGo. In this inaugural year of Vermonters Feeding Vermonters, the Foodbank is working with nine farms and two food hubs, though none in the Upper Valley.
VeggieVanGo days sometimes also include handing out recipes and samples, though that was not the case on Friday.
“(You can) plan some of your meals around some of these things,” said Bob Holmes, a Bridgewater resident, who is an Iraq veteran and a member of the VA’s housekeeping staff.
While some items such as milk have to be used quickly because they are close to their expiration dates, the selections also sometimes include organic tomatoes, said Dion, who served in the military police in Washington, D.C., from 1968 to 1970.
“They’re pretty nice,” he said.
VeggieVanGo Monthly Stops In the Upper Valley
Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center, 289 County Road, Windsor, Second Tuesdays, 10 to 11 a.m.
Orange County Parent Child Center, 693 VT Route 110, Tunbridge, Second Tuesdays, food arrives late morning and lasts until it’s gone
Springfield Hospital, 25 Ridgewood Rd., Springfield, Vt., Second Fridays, 10 to 11 a.m.
White River Junction VA Medical Center, 163 Veterans Drive, Fourth Mondays, 9 to 10:30 a.m.
Valley News Staff Writer Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
