Baldwin Community Schools is supporting surrounding districts with fresh produce every week.
Every Thursday, Farm to Family drops off a thousand of fresh produce boxes at Baldwin.
“They have the food available and they want to see it distributed,” says Superintendent of Rick Heitmeyer.
The opportunity arose back in May when Farm to Family approached Heitmeyer. They offered him 1,000, 20-pound boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables.
A deal he couldn’t pass up:
“Farmers were just getting rid of a lot of good produce because of a lot of the places that they ship to were no longer accepting stuff because of the whole pandemic,” says Heitmeyer.
Heitmeyer knew his community probably couldn’t use all the boxes each week, so he called the superintendents of , and .
“It’s good stuff that needs to get shared,” says Heitmeyer. “We’re pleased to be able to do that.”
Ron Stoneman, the superintendent of , says he’s grateful for the partnership:
“This type of collaboration is really what matters and that we’re communicating and finding out we can support each other in these times.”
Now anyone from Baldwin to Walkerville and up to Manistee can enjoy fresh produce. An idea food nutritionist Keri Carlson supports:
“There was a food shortage. People couldn’t get the things they needed from the store when they go, so they were excited to have the opportunity and to come here and get it all at one time,” says Carlson.
Stoneman says this collaboration truly matters:
“I’m so happy that our community has this opportunity and I’m just really proud of what we’re doing.”
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