As the world deals with the COVID-19 pandemic, many nonprofits have seen their funding reduced due to event cancelations and venue closures. The Sitka Local Foods Network is one of them. That’s why we’re participating in #GivingTuesdayNow on May 5, a special global day of unity to help nonprofits during this time of crisis. We have created an online #GivingTuesdayNow fundraiser on our MightyCause donation page, and hope you will help.

Normally, #GivingTuesday takes place on the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving, and the Sitka Local Foods Network has hosted five #GivingTuesday fundraisers. The regular #GivingTuesday fundraiser will be Dec. 1, 2020, and we expect to have our usual fundraiser during the holiday season. But #GivingTuesdayNow is a special event to help nonprofits during COVID-19.

So what does this mean for the Sitka Local Foods Network?

With the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sitka Local Foods Network is having to dramatically scale back the 13th season of the Sitka Farmers Market, which will reduce our our operations budget for the year. The Sitka Farmers Market is one of our biggest fundraisers, and this summer we will be reduced to two produce vendors and won’t have our other usual vendors selling breads, jams and jellies, arts and crafts, and prepared foods.

But our mission is to increase the amount of locally harvested and produced foods into the diets of Southeast Alaskans. So that means we will be selling fresh, local produce we grow at St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm. But to reduce the risk of spreading the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, we will be limiting our customer contact. We will use an online ordering portal so people order $20 or $40 boxes of produce during the week and then pick them up on Saturdays.

Due to our switch to an online sales portal, we won’t be able to accept and match SNAP and WIC benefits like normal. We still want to get fresh, local produce into the hands of low-income Sitka residents, so we are trying to come up with a plan for this, even if it means we have to use our general fund to cover the costs of giving a $20 box of produce to WIC/SNAP beneficiaries. We hope this fundraiser will help us cover the costs of providing this produce to low-income Sitkans. You can learn more about our plans at our website, http://www.sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org, or you can contact Sitka Local Foods Network board president Charles Bingham at sitkalocalfoodsnetwork@gmail.com or 623-7660.