Round Up Your Totals at the Registers February 6-12 for The New Community Project…The Co-op Will Match Your Donation!
New Community Project (NCP), is a nonprofit organization committed to the creation of sustainable systems that care for the earth, empower people most marginalized and impoverished, educate and inspire, and build the foundation for a nonviolent lifestyle. We work to create transformation at both the personal level and community level in three key areas that have the highest impact: food, transportation, and the built environment to promote justice, fairness, and increase resiliency for our community in the age of climate change.
Our Sustainable Living Center in Starksboro puts our mission into action by offering the following programs in our community:
Food Share: Our weekly Food Share program combines food rescued from area stores (including the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-Op) with food produced in NCP’s Food Justice Gardens to serve those struggling with food and nutritional insecurity in our community. Every Sunday afternoon, our Food Share Program provides up to 45 food boxes to individuals and families from fourteen area towns while diverting 144 cubic feet of potential food waste from the landfill.
Food Justice Gardens: Located at NCP’s Sustainable Living Center and the Starksboro Community Garden, NCP’s Food Justice Gardens help supply fresh organic vegetables to our weekly Food Share Program. In 2020, the gardens supplied 1000lbs of produce to the Food Share program.
Little Free Pantries: Located in Starksboro Village and South Starksboro, two Little Free Pantries now provide an additional food resource to our community. These free-standing structures offer non-perishable foods and supplies 24/7 to anyone who needs them. The Little Free Pantries are operated in partnership with RISE VT and United Way of Addison County.
Little Free Pantry
Community Woodbank and Emergency Heating Assistance: In partnership with the Town of Starksboro and H.O.P.E. in Middlebury, NCP operates a Community Woodbank and Heating Assistance Program. This program provides short-term heating assistance to individuals and families short on fuel during the winter. Our program also assists renters and homeowners by connecting them to state weatherization assistance resources to help them reduce their energy use and costs. This program provided firewood assistance to 5 families during the past winter and helped enroll two households in the state weatherization program.
How will the Rally for Change Funds be used?
Funds received through the Rally for Change program will help support an expansion of NCP’s Starksboro Area Food Justice Initiatives. This funding will support the planning, design, and expansion of our Food Justice gardens to increase the supply of produce to our weekly Food Share Program and increase food resilience/security for our community. Specifically, these funds would assist us in purchasing seeds, building materials, tools, soil amendments, season extenders, and an irrigation system necessary to launch this next phase in our initiative. With the unprecedented challenge of the climate crisis and growing food insecurity in Vermont, we see a tremendous opportunity to help address these issues through the development of a resilient local food system.