Providing Local Food to Our Community
Local Food Hub seeks to ensure that everyone, regardless of their circumstances, can easily access healthy local food.
Fresh Farmacy
Fruit & Vegetable “Prescription” Program
What? Biweekly shares of 6-9 locally and regionally sourced items, along with educational materials designed to help people prepare and enjoy their food in a healthy way.
For Whom? People in low-resource households with low food access and who are at risk for diet related illness. We partner with health clinics that serve low-resource communities to identify and enroll participants.
Why? To ensure that everyone, regardless of their circumstances, can easily access healthy local food.
How? Local Food Hub sources items specifically from small, local farms in order to help those farms increase their market share. Local Food Hub partners with regionally based vendors to source from producers throughout Virginia and the wider region.
… Where we are headed
We are raising money to fund our Fresh Farmacy program, expanding it to five surrounding counties - Fluvanna, Louisa, Greene, Nelson and Buckingham - to increase our impact and reach more people that experience food insecurity.
We need you to help realize our goals, please
2020
In response to the pandemic, Fresh Farmacy delivered 600% more shares than in 2019. The program expanded to year-round rather than seasonal and begins to incorporate home delivery of shares.
2015
Local Food Hub started Fresh Farmacy in partnership with Blue Ridge Health Department. In its first year, we partnered with three health clinics and served 90 participants.
Where Fresh Farmacy started…
2019
Fresh Farmacy has expanded to serve nearly 300 households, through partnership with 6 health clinics. Feedback from participants is consistently positive.
2024
Fresh Farmacy remains a year-round program with home delivery to 400-500 participants. As we look to the future, we focus on creating lasting lifestyle changes for participants and ensuring program sustainability.
Farm Stands
In 2023, we expanded to include markets in several counties, as well as a pay-what-you-can model in urban communities within the Charlottesville area. We are grateful for our partnership with UVA Health to help reach residents of the Fifeville community.
We started the farm stands in 2022 in partnership with Sentara Health and held a total of 12 in that year, providing no-cost food to thousands of Louisa County residents.
Our Farm Stand Program promotes agency of choice when people choose their own food and helps us reach more rural communities. At each farm stand, we provide educational resources designed to empower people to prepare the food they get in delicious and simple ways.
Virginia Fresh Match
Local Food Hub is a proud partner of Virginia Fresh Match.
Virginia Fresh Match (VFM) is a network of farmers markets, mobile markets, and community food stores across Virginia. VFM locations offer nutrition incentives that double the value of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) dollars spent on fruits and vegetables. With VFM, SNAP shoppers can afford more fruits and vegetables, local farmers earn extra income, and more dollars stay in the local economy. Local Environmental Agriculture Project (LEAP) serves as fiscal sponsor. Learn more at VirginiaFreshMatch.org.
You can help with our food access programs.
Local Food Hub distributed $40,000 of food to Louisa County residents in 2022.
