Happy to ring in the new year, even belatedly, by helping trumpet the quite significant accomplishments of my friends at Farmer Foodshare: the extraordinary agricultural non-profit that’s reshaping the food system by bridging the barriers to both grow and access fresh, local food.
Since joining the organization as Director of the Wholesale Market in January 2017, David Szczepankowski has worked diligently to drive the program to its full potential. Back then he rather boldly told the Farmer Foodshare staff and board that the Wholesale Market had lots of opportunity ahead of it. And that through hard work, they might actually be able to reach $1 million in sales someday. At the time, as David himself will tell you, some, if not many, of his colleagues - while clearly applauding his enthusiasm - thought such thinking was, well, “crazy”.
Last month, during weekly deliveries to the fifty-four schools of the Durham Public School system, Farmer Foodshare’s largest mission client and one of the Wholesale Market’s first customers, sales in fact reached $1,000,000.00 for 2019. Wow!
Such success traces directly to a lively, diverse, and extremely hardworking group whose passion for serving their clients, customers, and most importantly, their mission, is evident in everything they do. David’s team of remarkably dedicated people, includes gifted current and former employees Ryan Cribbins, Garnett Hodge, Franklin Santana, Ben Sellers, Hannah Taylor, Amy Gregory, Claire Charny, Sprague Cheshire, Karen Hill, and Shep Stearns.
Looking forward, David sees even more opportunities to grow the program to its new and now expanding potential. The number of organizations keen to collaborate with Farmer Foodshare’s Wholesale Market is greater than ever; and as the Market grows in reach and service, so does its ability to fund more mission centered projects.
As David, asks, “Do I hear $2 million?”
Comments