The full circle: farmer to merchant to consumer

“We have a fun little ecosystem here in that when we have produce going bad in our pantry, we donate it to a local chicken farmer, who feeds it to her farm animals and sells eggs to Christopher Farms,” said Destri Leger, director of the church’s Friendship House outreach ministry.

That in turn led Leger to learn about the variety of fresh produce at Christopher Farms. So she approached owners Douglas and Sheena Waite about a partnership to stock the food boxes.

Samatha Gibson, food program coordinator at the Friendship House, is delighted with the arrangement.

“The quality of produce here is so much higher than you find at a grocery store,” she said of Christopher Farms. “We’re glad to put money back into the local economy and to support our farmers.”

So far, fruits, vegetables and dried beans have been incorporated into the healthy food boxes for HOP clients, but Gibson said the church is exploring possibilities for other items such as meats and cheeses.

In addition to coordinating the food itself, Gibson also pulls together recipes for using the ingredients of the week and tailors the recipes to the dietary needs of each family, such as low sodium, low carbohydrate or vegan.

For instance, some people may have been used to getting beans from a can and may not know what to do with dried beans, or how to prepare fresh vegetables. Gibson uses Canva to create an attractive recipe card for meals such as soups, salads, vegetables, casseroles and even healthy snacks.

Christopher Farms not only carries produce but a wide variety of other items such as cheeses, specialized ready-to-eat meals, local meats and other hard-to-find items.

“If it’s home-grown, home-made or one-of-a-kind, we want to carry it,” Douglas Waite said, noting many of their items come from the Amish country where things are done the old-fashioned way.

Sheena Waite keeps track of the many varieties of specialized products her husband has “dug high and low” to find.

“There’s more than a hundred kinds of cheeses,” she said. “I’ve counted them. And there’s a hundred different kinds of jams and jellies.”

The Waites have a loyal customer base who frequented the market just outside Waynesville when it was started by brothers Doug and Gene Christopher. But they have attracted a new clientele with the local products and unique offerings such as the very seasonal pink pineapple or specialized Italian meals that taste as good as homemade.

“We have our loyal customers, but are trying to bring younger clients into the fold who may never have experienced this type of store,” Douglas Waite said, adding that working with the Friendship House is another way to get the word out.

So far, the church has only worked with a dozen or so HOP clients, but Leger is confident as the kinks are worked out of the program referral process, more will come on board.

“We’d like to establish other partnerships with local farmers for pork, beef and things like that,” she said. “We’re trying to keep money within Haywood County to support the local economy and support local farmers.”

An added benefit as a contracted service provider for HOP was getting funds to buy a four-wheel drive truck to make deliveries in hard-to-reach rural areas, which has come in handy, Leger said.

In addition to providing food, those using the Friendship House can go through social determinate screening to see if other connections can be helpful as well.

Other nonprofits in the region contracted to participate in the HOP program provide assistance such as help finding and settling into housing, transportation and other services called “social determinants of health.”

Coming next in the series: A HOP recipient who is a single dad discusses how the program has made a difference in his family.