Alan Day Community Garden

Youth Leadership Program- For years we have been working, playing, growing, and eating alongside our Youth Leaders, sharing valuable lifelong skills for self-reliance and success. Every day of the program, youth leaders, staff, and volunteers prepare and share a garden-fresh meal together. Learning about cooking and nutrition has dramatically improved the eating habits of many of our youth leaders, who are introduced to new foods for the first time and take recipes home for their families to try. Through experience, we believe that cooking skills should be an essential part of childhood education, to develop resilience, self-reliance, and healthy eating habits, while reducing diet-related illnesses.

Cooking/SNAP- SNAP-Ed, the educational programs of the SNAP benefit program, work to make every food dollar count by teaching shopping, food storage and cooking skills. Our SNAP-Ed Cooking Matters classes teach these essential life skills, create community resiliency, and work toward reducing food insecurity. “SNAP has many advantages over charitable food programs. It does not depend on a separate distribution system, people are able to access food at most any grocery outlet, and they are allowed the dignity to make their own food choices. SNAP has a significant impact on food insecurity, which can be complemented with education on budgeting, food purchasing, and cooking.” (LD 1159 – Resolve to End Hunger in Maine by 2030, pg 10)

Community Plots- We provide land access, gardening tools, education, and ongoing support to anyone who wants to grow food. We also install raised beds at schools, Early Learning Head Start sites, and at personal residences for those who prefer to garden at home.

Garden Share CSA Program- Our CSA program offers free and subsidized weekly shares of fruits and vegetables throughout the growing season, and provides local food access for those with limitations of time and resources. This program introduces participants to new varieties of produce and provides recipe suggestions.

Farmers’ Market- Throughout the summer our Community Farmers’ Market connects consumers with local farmers, while promoting food access to families with low-income. Food is offered on a donation basis, and can be purchased using SNAP and Maine Harvest Bucks incentives. We offer ready-to-eat meals during the Market to demonstrate the use of fresh, local ingredients. At the Market we work to increase participation in key federal nutrition programs by working to remove barriers, and enhancing outreach for programs such as SNAP, Harvest Bucks, School Nutrition,and Maine Senior Farm Share Program. The Market is a great example of bringing the food pantry model to a center of opportunity that provides access to food, peer support, and skill development, including advocacy and empowerment. The Market provides common ground for community members to engage, reducing isolation and disconnection, which are identified as root causes of poor health outcomes in Oxford County.

Community Meals- We believe that teaching valuable lifelong skills as part of an inclusive community project has a greater long-term positive outcome than charity models that now proliferate communities across the U.S. However, there’s nothing like providing a community meal that brings people together to share stories, build community bonds, and find common ground. In 2020, we served hundreds of meals to our community and delivered to the homes of those who were unable to come to the garden. Once the pandemic is over, we look forward to hosting even bigger celebrations of local food and community.