Year 20 of Morristown Farmers Market kicks off Sunday with ‘healthy choices’ drive for soup kitchen

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The Morristown Farmers Market kicks off its 20th season on Sunday with a drive to help the Community Soup Kitchen provide nutritious food to the needy.

Participating farmers will be donating surplus foods at the end of each market day to “Healthy Choices,” a joint venture with the soup kitchen. Shoppers at the market also will be asked to donate items each week, said France Delle Donne of the Morristown Partnership, which runs the farmers market.

soup kitchen logo

Bakers Bounty of Linden is joining ER & Son Organic Farm of Monroe Township, Grossman Farm of Chesterfield, Michisk Farm of Flemington, Pittstown Fruit Farm of Union, and Union Hill Farm of Denville in the soup kitchen project.

The idea started with Kathy Mikulka, healthy choices coordinator for the soup kitchen.

The kitchen has served a hot meal at lunchtime every day for a quarter-century; some 65,000 meals were served in 2009, a 30-percent jump from the prior year.

Housed at Morristown’s Church of the Redeemer from Sunday through Friday and at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church on Saturdays, the soup kitchen already picks up surplus produce from Alstede Farms in Chester. France said other vendors at the Farmers Market were happy to pitch in, too.

“We’re thrilled,” said France. Vendor interest in the farmers market is at “an all-time high,” she said.

The market runs every Sunday through Oct. 31 from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., in the municipal parking lot between Dumont Place and Morris Street (behind the Morristown Diner).

Free live music will be included on the second Sunday of each month.

FROM THE COMMUNITY SOUP KITCHEN:

Community Comes Together for a Cause

The Morristown Partnership is joining forces with the Community Soup Kitchen and Outreach Center to battle poverty in the greater Morristown area. Thanks to the Partnership the Soup Kitchen has a new source for fresh produce each week from vendors at the Morristown Farmers Market.

It all started with Kathy Mikula, the Community Soup Kitchen’s Healthy Choices Coordinator. She contacted the Morristown Partnership which has run the popular Morristown Farmers Market each 20-week season on Sundays for the past 20 years. They in turn brought together five farmers and a baker who are generously willing to donate leftover produce when the Market closes each Sunday at 2:00pm.

“It is a natural connection for the farmers and the Soup Kitchen,” France Delle Donne, Director of Development for Morristown Partnership, pointed out, “since both groups truly work 365 days a year.”

The Soup Kitchen has served a hot noon time meal every day for the past 25 years. She said, “The farmers are a close knit group. At the end of a market day, our vendors can be found swapping some of their remaining goods; much like a barter system. When offered the opportunity to help the Community Soup Kitchen our farmers and baker were absolutely delighted to do so.”

Bakers Bounty of Linden has joined five New Jersey farms in this venture.  The farms are ER & Son Organic Farm of Monroe Township, Grossman Farm of Chesterfield, Michisk Farm of Flemington, Pittstown Fruit Farm of Union, and Union Hill Farm of Denville.

The Morristown Partnership would also like to encourage shoppers of the Farmers Market to get involved in this program.  Shoppers can purchase extra vegetables and fruits and place these directly in a Community Soup Kitchen basket which will be collected along with the surplus goods at the end of the market.  The market located at the Spring St. and Morris St  parking lot behind the Morristown Diner and Post Office, opens on Sunday, June 20th and runs for 20 weeks from 8:30am until 2:00pm.

Mikula’s position as the Healthy Choices Coordinator for the Soup Kitchen is provided by a grant from the Morristown based Fannie E. Rippel Foundation. The produce she collects is used to prepare healthy dishes for the guests while any excess produce is made available on the take-home table.

She already has a smoothly running arrangement with Alstede Farms, another Morristown Farmers Market vendor. Alstede’s not only provides excess produce, but also acts as another collection site for food donations for the Soup Kitchen. They recently provided tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, radishes, strawberries, greens and corn. When the Soup Kitchen door opens for serving, many guests go directly to the take home table before getting their hot meal. All of the fresh produce was gone in 15 minutes.

As the economy worsened, it became more of a challenge for the Soup Kitchen to provide for the volume of guests that desperately needed help. 65,000 meals were served in 2009 – up 30% from the previous year. The new connection with local farms helps the Soup Kitchen continue to provide for anyone in need.

The connection with the Morristown Farmers Market is a godsend to guests like “Beverly”* She worked for years as an executive secretary, but was put on disability after developing a serious heart condition. That same year Beverly realized she would also have to raise her granddaughter. Making ends meet became more difficult each month.

Finally, a friend told her about the Community Soup Kitchen. She was awed by her initial experience in the dining room.

“As a very little person I lived through the Depression. We had ration stamps. So I’ve been around the block a couple of times. When you say ‘soup kitchen’ you expect to see a bowl of soup and a piece of bread. But they lay a smorgasbord out here! I couldn’t believe how much food there was; plus peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to take home, then they called ‘seconds’ and brought out even more food!”

She has come back regularly ever since.

Along with heart trouble, Beverly has emphysema and arthritis which are treated with 14 medications. Beverly relies on the Soup Kitchen to help her maintain her health by eating right. She said, “I enjoy coming here to eat. Get my salad everyday. I come here to get a hot meal and food from the take home table, fresh fruits and vegetables. I have to eat healthy but I can’t eat healthy if its not here. You know what I’m saying?”

*Name of guest has been changed to protect her privacy.

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