Farm fresh: How free produce from Missouri growers is getting to KC area families

Above top, an image from the video shows Nathan Moyer walking through a hydroponic greenhouse at Moyer Farms. Below, parent Crystal Goodwin in the Center School District receives her box of produce full of vegetables shown in the image at the bottom right.

This feels good, like some 60 years ago when Payton Proffer’s great-great-grandpa, Udell Proffer, was selling fresh produce out of the back of his truck to families at small Missouri markets.

Or when Nathan Moyer was growing up on a northwest Missouri farm and going on trips to Kansas City’s River Market.

Because, with the coordination of LINC Caring Communities, Missouri growers this summer are getting boxes of free produce into the hands of grateful parents like LaSha Smith of Kansas City.

Topping Elementary grandparent Bobbi Bramble in North Kansas City Schools picks up a box of produce

Smith was saying good-bye to her children, dropping them off for another day of summer school at Banneker Elementary in the Kansas City Public Schools, her oldest son leaning his head against his mother’s seven-month-pregnant belly while she rubbed the top of his head.

Now she paused in the parking lot by her car, which had been loaded with a 20-pound box of farm-fresh tomatoes, green peppers, zucchini squash, cabbage and sweet potatoes.

“This is a good cause,” she said, as she learned that the Missouri Department of Social Services was collaborating with LINC and other regional partners to help state farmers participate in the federal Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) cooperative program.

“It helps my kids eat healthy,” she said. “It helps the moms who struggle throughout the summer to feed their kids when they’re not in school — especially parents like me because I’m pregnant.”

The produce in her box came from Proffer Produce, based in Farmington, Mo. Other produce boxes LINC is helping distribute come from Moyer Farms in Richmond, Mo.

Since April, the DSS, LINC and local farms collaborating in the program have distributed more than $73,000 worth of free produce at some 50 neighborhood sites in the Kansas City region.

“I really appreciate it,” Smith said. “I know other moms appreciate it too.”

The produce is coming from family-owned-and-operated farms that are an easy country drive away — fulfilling one of the Missouri Department of Social Service’s missions that the federal LFPA program support and promote local growers.

LINC students Javier and Dion load a box of produce into parent Laniesha Woods’ car at King Elementary School in the Kansas City Public Schools.

And LINC is connecting the food to families in need, initially through its Caring Community sites in six area school districts, with expansion coming to distribute produce across an 11-county area surrounding Kansas City.

In all, LINC is one of 14 Missouri community partnerships that are collaborating in the program to cover every county in the state, said Jeriane Jaegers-Brenneke, the Missouri Department of Social Services' Deputy Director of Workforce and Community Initiatives.

"We've always considered the community partnerships an arm of Social Services," she said. "They are the local agencies that know what's happening on the ground. The community partnerships also have a multitude of wraparound services already available. They know the community better than we know their community."

The program aims to support local farmers and families, which was thrilling to Moyer Farms’ Nathan Moyer and his co-owner, wife Erin.

“The LFPA grant seemed like a good fit because it was going to get food where it needed to go,” Nathan Moyer said. “It’s going to help a lot of producers like us.”

He started Moyer Farms in 2010, carrying on a family history of farming. When you “just like growing stuff,” like he does, he said, and when you persevere through “a lot of hard labor and a lot of headaches with weather,” it feels extra good knowing households in need are benefitting.

The Proffer Produce operation likewise is a family enterprise, said Payton Proffer. The late Udell Proffer passed the business on to Payton’s grandfather and father, she said, and she works alongside “aunts, uncles, cousins, my mom the office manager, and my little brother.”

“We love to support our home state and surrounding communities,” she said of the LFPA program. “And what better way is there to do that than providing people access to free, healthier foods?”

LINC is working on expanding the reach of the program, and Proffer is eager to expand with it as well, said CEO Bob Proffer.

"They've figured out how to get the food to the counties and areas where there's need," he said. The LFPA program is a shining example, he said, "where food produced in the United States -- (by) the American farmer -- is going to places that need it and the government is assisting in securing these holes and helping with it. I think it's a great program, a great thing to be a part of."

Volunteers at the food distribution at Morning Star Youth and Family Life Center in Kansas City hand out some of the free produce to some of the neighbors in the walk-up line.

On a recent distribution day in June, Topping Elementary School grandparent Bobbi Bramble had dropped her grandkids off at the summer school program at North Kansas City Schools’ Maplewood Elementary when the LINC team surprised her with news of the produce boxes.

“Wow,” she said as she took a look inside. She searched through the squashes and tomatoes. “Oh wow — and some sweet potatoes — this is nice.”

“It really helps out,” she said. “I’m on disability and I take care of my grandchildren. It’s great to be able to give them fresh vegetables. Knowing my kids are eating good — I love that. You can’t beat that.”

LINC’s Martin Jackson helps unload produce boxes at Ingels Elementary in Hickman Mills.

School administrators like King Summer Academy Principal Kent Mailen in the Kansas City Public Schools said the free produce aid is coming at a critical time for families.

“The price of food right now is outrageous,” Mailen said. “The fact that this food is being distributed to families not just in our school but in our community is going a very long way. We are very thankful.”

LINC Caring Communities Coordinator John Herrera at Boone Elementary in the Center School District said it’s not just school parents that are happy to hear that the produce will keep coming for many months to come.

Many of the school’s teachers are straining to support their families and are accepting produce boxes as well.

“The need,” he said, “goes across the whole gamut of the community.”

The local produce from Moyer and Proffer has also boosted the weekly food distributions at the Morning Star Youth and Family Life Center at 27th and Prospect Avenue in Kansas City.

Between 500 and 700 households come to pick up food each week, some represented in the more than 200 vehicles coming through the car line, and others by the more than 150 individuals who bring their bags and baskets through the walk-up line, said LINC Caring Communities Program Associate Drake Bushnell.

The Morning Star distribution, with food coming from Harvesters and many local donations, has always been able to provide good proteins, meats and grains, he said. “But getting the fresh, ready-to-eat, ready-to-cook produce is awesome.”

Banneker Elementary parent LaSha Smith: “I really appreciate it. And I know other moms appreciate it too.”

From Grandview in the far south of Jackson County to Buckner to the far east, and across the river into Clay County, thousands of pounds of produce have reached Missouri households, with more and wider-ranging distributions to come.

Other regional community partnerships, working with the Missouri Department of Social Services, are carrying out the same mission across Missouri.

And with the summer growing season now in full, the menu is only going to get better.

Tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, zucchini, cucumbers, lettuce and radishes are already going home with families

“And coming down the pipeline, the sweet corn is ready,” Nathan Moyer said. “And we’re going to have watermelon and canteloupe too.”

By Joe Robertson/LINC Writer