RFA SEEKS DONATIONS

New City, NY—Rockland Farm Alliance (RFA) is seeking donations to help subsidize shares of its Community Supported Agriculture program (CSA). Each week, boxes of fresh produce grown at New City’s Cropsey Community Farm will be distributed to families served by Hudson River Health Care, Inc. (HRHCare, Inc) at their clinics in Haverstraw and Spring Valley. Last year, more than 500 pounds of organically grown vegetables were distributed to families in need through during the May to November growing season.

HRHCare partnered with the Rockland Farm Alliance in 2013 with a pilot program to provide fresh produce to their patients. HRHCare is a network of 20 health centers with a mission to improve the health status of the community, especially for the underserved and vulnerable.

“The partnership with RFA allowed HRHCare to go above and beyond providing healthcare to our patients, by helping to address some of the underlying factors that impact overall health, such as lack of access to fresh produce,” said Andrew Lehto, special populations manager from HRHCare.

“RFA’s goal is to help increase the availability of local grown healthy food to people of all walks of life. Since mid-January, we’ve received donations to cover close to three full shares for HRHCare this season. Hopefully we can increase that to at least 10 shares. You do not need to join the CSA to make a donation,” said John McDowell, president and co-founder of RFA.

Donations towards a subsidized share can be made at http://cropseycommunityfarm.csasignup.com. Information about the Cropsey Community Farm CSA can be found at www.cropseyfarm.org.