DC Charity Spotlight: FRESHFARM Markets

WISH LIST $250: supplies for a Chef at Market demonstration; $500: scholarship for 1 farmer to attend the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture conference; $1000: class trip to a farmer's market

Every Sunday at Dupont Circle the residents of Washington experience the urban equivalent of a wilderness experience: a farmers' market offering locally grown food and the chance to meet the farmers who grow it. It's one of eight markets operated throughout Washington and Maryland by FRESHFARM Markets, which supports 75 regional farmers representing 6,200 acres of Chesapeake Bay farmland - one of the first regions farmed in America and also one of its top ten most endangered today. Of course, the food offered at these "producer-only" farmers' markets is also fresher and healthier than grocery store produce. Farmers welcome customers of all income levels by accepting USDA's WIC and Senior coupons; two markets accept Food Stamps; and FFM annually donates over 30,000 pounds of produce to local soup kitchens and shelters. FoodPrints brings farmers and chefs into schools, builds school gardens, and takes classes on farm and market trips. You can join the local food movement - a "delicious revolution" - and help preserve Chesapeake Bay farmland too. Isn't that appealing?

Bernadine Prince, Co-Director PO Box 15691 Washington, DC 20003 202.362.8889 www.freshfarmmarkets.org