By Olly Banerjee, presented by TABLE

Feeding over 1,125 kids every single week requires lots of hard work, time, and community support. One key ingredient for our success? Fresh, local produce.

35% of TABLE’s purchased fresh food comes from TABLE’s trusted farm partners. 

Thanks to TABLE’s partnerships with local and BIPOC-owned farms, we are able to bring healthy food and nutrition education to children in Orange County, North Carolina. Our mutually beneficial partnership with these local and BIPOC-owned farms both feeds our kids and also provides a steady stream of revenue for our farmers. It’s a partnership that we are proud of – nourishing our children and strengthening our local agriculture industry.

Since TABLE opened its doors in 2008, we have evolved our process to lower food insecurity and make sure every child in Orange County gets fed. Here’s a brief look at how fresh produce gets from local farms to TABLE to our kids!

1. Farm Deliveries

Every week, our farm partners drop off fresh produce at TABLE. These farms provide us with a wide variety of fruits and veggies –ranging from mushrooms, leafy greens, root vegetables, to seasonal fruit like strawberries, apples, and oranges! The food is delivered directly to TABLE and with the help of volunteers, the food is stored and organized in our facility. Each week, TABLE creates a list of food for each child to receive based on the fresh produce that’s available and in-season.

Every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, volunteers fill bags based on the week’s “menu.”

Here is an example of a weekly menu at TABLE

  • Avocado
  • Bananas
  • Crown of Broccoli
  • Carton of Strawberries
  • Spinach
  • Apples
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Kale
  • Micro greens

2. Start bagging

Now comes the fun part – bagging! Volunteers form an assembly line to pack the food most efficiently. Every volunteer bags one item and passes it along to the next person. At the end of the line, a volunteer ties the bag of fresh food together and attaches it to a bag of healthy non-perishable items. Now, the bags are ready for the kids and waiting to be sent out.

3. Food Deliveries

For every fresh-food shift, TABLE has a team of volunteers dedicated to delivering the food to each household, playing a critical role in our mission. The volunteers help pack the cars with the bags of food and then the drivers follow specific routes across Orange County.

At the end of the shift, everyone pitches in to clean up because a clean, organized space helps us stay efficient and ready for the next round of volunteers and deliveries.

And then the process starts all over again the following week! Thanks to our volunteers and farmers, TABLE operates like a well oiled machine. Every week, food comes from our farm partners, gets bagged and delivered by our volunteers, and sent to the homes of over one thousand kids across the county.

Because of this joint effort, 97% of TABLE kids eat more fruits and vegetables than ever before.

Our families are feeling the effects as well…

“TABLE has aided in our ability to have access to more fruits and vegetables and at a great level of variety. Fruits and vegetables can be very expensive, groceries in general and it is a very tough decision to not choose healthy food because you can’t afford it. Thank you for this wonderful program.” 

We couldn’t do it without our partners and our volunteers – and we are so thankful for every person who helps us carry out our mission with care and compassion.

Whether you’re interested in packing bags, making deliveries, or supporting us behind the scenes, we welcome you to join our mission.

Sign up today to volunteer!

Olly Banerjee

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