• By Virginia Lopez
• Posted Monday, April 1, 2024

Donation Station Program to Premier at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Farmers Market

Spring is here and Summer is not far behind! This is a great time to visit and support your local farmers market and also support a local food relief center ALL in one visit. How can you do this?

N.C. Cooperative Extension, Forsyth County Center is collaborating with the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Farmers Market to bring for the first time the Donation Station Program. Starting Saturday, April 12, 2024 and every 2nd Saturday thereafter for each month from April through September 2024. We will be there bright and early from 7 a.m. to 12 Noon at the Fairgrounds Farmers Market ready to collect your donations.

What is the Donation Station Program? The Donation Station program seeks to improve access to fresh, locally-grown food while supporting the farmers who grow it. The Donation Station uses a simple farmers market-based approach where volunteers collect food donations from the shoppers buying directly from farmers at the farmers market and bringing it to the Donation Station table. The collected donations are then picked up by a local relief center to then distribute to their participants.

It’s that simple; yet, impactful for the families who are food insecure, especially when it comes to nutrient-dense foods. Collected foods from this program will go to “A Blessing” Food Pantry located on Old Walkertown Rd who will distribute the foods to the families who visit the food pantry on that same Saturday morning.

N.C. Cooperative Extension encourages you to support your local farmers, farmers markets, and food pantries all across Forsyth County. This program is making its debut in Forsyth County and the goal is to have the Donation Station Program at all our Forsyth County Farmers Market in the near future to support our local farmers and our food pantries in all communities.

If you are interested in learning more about the Donation Station Program and/or volunteering opportunities, and/or making donations to the Donation Station Program, please contact Virginia C. Lopez at (336)703-2867 or email her at: virgnia_lopez@ncsu.edu or lopezv2@forsyth.cc.