Farm Stands
New American Sustainable Agriculture Project (NASAP) farmers operate a network of multilingual farm stands across the Androscoggin and Cumberland counties from July through October where customers can access local, culturally important food grown and harvested at Packard-Littlefield Farm. These farm stands offer a dollar for dollar match on purchases made using SNAP/EBT and WIC nutrition incentive dollars.
In an average season, our program sells and distributes nearly $170,000 worth of vegetables to customers using SNAP/EBT and WIC benefits, which makes up 97% of all farm stand sales. Matching is made possible in part by funds from USDA’s Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program, individual donors, and grant programs including Good Shepherd Food Bank’s Community Response Fund, Sewall’s Rapid Response Fund, and No Kid Hungry.
Senior Farm Share
In an effort to engage with community members and assist those who may not have access to healthy food, our Senior Farm Share is a project led by participants of our teen internships. The teens grow fruits and vegetables, prepare meals, and make weekly food deliveries to elderly people in our neighborhood who have requested assistance.
Additional Food Assistance Programs
NASAP farmers partner with Good Shepherd Food Bank’s Mainers Feeding Mainers program to distribute $60,000 of culturally important vegetables to six food pantries and schools in Maine:
- MaineHealth Food Pantry, Portland
- Sacred Heart/St. Dom Food Pantry, Portland
- Connors Elementary School Food Pantry, Lewiston
- Pathway Vineyard Food Pantry, Lewiston
- Trinity Jubilee Center Food Pantry, Lewiston
- Lisbon Area Christian Outreach Food Pantry, Lisbon Falls
Each season, NASAP farmers also collaborate with Maine Immigrant Refugee Services, Hope Acts, Maine Association for New Americans, and the Opportunity Alliance to pack and deliver over 900 bags of culturally important vegetables for new immigrant families.
This program is made possible through community partnerships!
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that here in Maine we are on Indigenous land, the territory of the Penobscot, Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy, and Abenaki nations. We are grateful for their continued stewardship. We are mindful of how this impacts our work with community agriculture.
Header and footer photos by Greta Rybus