St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church has hosted a farm stand serving communities in Southeast Sacramento for over 5 years. It all began in 2011 as lay leader Shirley Shepard looked for a new model to support healthy food access in the community; her hope was to have the church host an on-site farm stand offering produce its congregants and greater community preferred. The farm stand project is a natural fit for St. Paul which, through its Dr. Ephraim Williams Family Life Center, already has several programs in place to promote a healthy lifestyle which includes spiritual, physical, mental, and nutritional education for members and the surrounding community.
The farm stand at St. Paul’s features produce from local farms including African American, Asian, and organic farmers. Keeping an eye to busy schedules, the project team operates the stand from 3:00 pm to 6:30 pm on Wednesdays, when people are heading home from work or going to the church’s Wednesday night bible study.
One key aspect of the success of the farm stand project is education. Shepard and her team believe that it’s not enough to provide healthy, fresh produce without educating consumers about why healthy eating is important. Farm stand customers receive literature on the meaning of terms like “organic” and “free range” and what preservatives do to your food and body. The project team also takes full advantage of the church’s commercial kitchen which allows the team to prepare samples of foods their customers may normally “pass up”.
Other unique features of the farm stand include: culturally appropriate produce like crowder peas, okra, and mustard greens; $5 incentives for volunteers; and sales days from June to October with a special re-opening in November for Thanksgiving shopping.
The Interfaith Sustainable Food Collaborative is working with several congregational partners to develop CSA and produce stand projects and is looking to partner with more! If you/your congregation have or are interested in hosting a CSA drop site or farm stand with CalFresh/EBT, contact the Collaborative team today to find out how we can help!