8th Annual Rally for Rosie’s Place

NEW THIS YEAR: Donate any Dollar amount at the registers and we will use it purchase produce and match it as well. Not just on weekends, we will match monetary donations every day until March 15.

Volante Farms is excited to announce their 8th annual groundbreaking fresh food drive – Rally for Rosie’s Place – a month long effort to provide nutritious vegetables and fruit to those in need of help with their groceries.

For the thousands of poor and homeless women Rosie’s Place serves each year, impossible choices among food, rent, medication and heat are commonplace. When groceries are an option, nutritional value usually takes a back seat to cost since healthy food choices are often more expensive.

Since the 2010 growing season, Volante Farms has partnered with Rosie’s Place in their commitment to provide substantial and nutritious meals to their guests. Patricia Jones, Food Pantry Manager, explains, “For more than 40 years, Rosie’s Place has provided a safe and nurturing environment for poor and homeless women to maintain their dignity, seek opportunity and find security in their lives. Our food programs further our mission by giving our guests access to fresh, healthy, and nutritious food that is too often simply not an option for families struggling to make ends meet.”

While Rosie’s Place has had great success partnering with Volante’s and other local farms during the warmer months, there is an expressed lack of fresh food donations available to them during the winter. Volante’s is looking to once again change this for the entire month of March!

Here is how the month long effort will work. For the first two  weekends in March, Volante’s is encouraging the community to visit the Farm and donate fresh produce from the market at the register. No gift is too small…a single piece of fruit improves the quality of a meal. The donations will be kept in refrigerated chests until they are tallied and delivered the following Monday morning. These totals will be used during the 3rd and 4th week of March, when Volante’s will match pound for pound every customer donation!

Since the beginning of this drive in 2013 Volante Farms and their customers have donated over two tons of nourishing vegetables and fruit. Coupled with additional Volante’s  donations Rosie’s Place received over $19,000 worth of healthy food during a difficult time of year when donations are at a low and utility bills are high!

The public is asked to help strengthen this tradition by donating at the Farm and spreading the word to your friends, school and community groups. For more information please contact Teri Volante Boardman or Ryan Conroy at Volante Farms (www.volantefarms.com), 292 Forest Street, Needham MA, 02492, 781-444-2351 or info@volantefarms.com