SPRING 2024 UPDATE

As many of you know, we left our home on Middle Road in Essex at the end of 2023. Though we worked hard to find a solution that would enable us to stay, we ultimately needed to find a new location for our operations. With so many stakeholders invested in our continuance, and with many exciting projects on the horizon, we resolved to work through this transition until we could land in a new facility with the infrastructure necessary to support access to our farms’ bounty, value-added food entrepreneurship, and processing for our schools.

I am proud to say that with the remarkable creativity and grit of our staff and humbling support from Tangleroot Farm, Cafe Trigo, River & Rails Market & Deli, North Country Creamery, KZ Farm, SUNY Plattsburgh, Catskills Agrarian Alliance, ANCA, CCE Essex County, Cloudsplitter Foundation, Adirondack Foundation, Bruce McLanahan, JM McDonald Foundation, our customers, and others too numerous to name here, we made it to spring in our new home at the former Ledge Hill Brewery in Westport. Not only that, but we did so without layoffs or complete loss of market outlets for our farmers, and with renewed dedication to our mission.

We are grateful for the vision, hard work, and community support that fostered the growth of a local food hub, which became so much more than that, on Middle Road for many years.

Distribution operations are now underway at our new home in the former Ledge Hill Brewery, at 6700 Main Street in Westport, NY. In just a couple of weeks we will reopen our retail market, where you will find an array of local food products, all the herbs, spices, and pantry items you need to make them sing, and a selection of household items. We will accept AdkAction Fair Food cards just as before, and are working toward the ability to process SNAP payments. We will announce the official May date soon!

In order to weatherize our building, fit out our commercial kitchens, and install an HVAC system and expanded retail refrigeration, we have applied for more than $750,000 in economic development funding from the USDA, Northern Border Regional Commission, and New York State to close the gap in our campaign budget for renovations. With decisions anticipated by July, we hope to begin construction by fall and be providing our full scope of services before spring of next year.

While we are hopeful, we still need you. With 2024 revenues impacted by our relocation, we are asking for $35,000 toward operating expenses for the year. If you are able to donate, you can follow the link below to do so.

We are so grateful that you have taken the time to follow our updates. Your investment in our success keeps us going.

Sincerely,

Lindsay Willemain
Executive Director

Essex Food Hub & Its Early Success

Essex Food Hub, Inc., is a 501c3 nonprofit food hub established to succeed The Hub on the Hill and ensure that a vital resource continues to exist for our community.

Since our founding in 2022, EFH has been incredibly successful in assuming operations, continuing to make a big impact on our rural community and beyond. Just since April of 2023 when we began direct-to-consumer and resale operations, we have:

Put $268,000 in the pockets of North Country farmers;
Moved more than $80,000 worth of food to as many as 575 New York households in need through our mutual aid partnerships;
Aggregated and distributed, and in some cases, processed, 34,000 pounds of food to 5,000 of students receiving free lunch across the North Country;
Run six delivery routes weekly across the Adirondacks, down to the Capital Region and the Hudson Valley, and throughout New York City, as a distributor and as a delivery service for small-scale farmers and value-added food producers, traveling long miles to get food to towns that even Sysco won't serve;
Employed between seven and 12 (fluctuates seasonally) individuals year-round; and
Provided permanent production space for four well-established, value-added food producers in our region, in addition to commissary kitchen space and co-packing services.

Aside from continuing operations, EFH has also focused on growing, especially our Farm to Institution work. As part of this growth, EFH has already:

Become a distributor for Tangleroot Farm, North Country Creamery, Crown Point Farm and Dairy, and YesFolk Tonics, in addition to continuing to provide logistical and delivery support for nine producers. Conversations to soon onboard four additional distribution partners are underway.
Helped 50 regional institutions, not including schools, access local foods through our growing wholesale ordering, aggregation, and distribution services.
Submitted a successful bid to double the scale of our Farm to School work this academic year, in which we will supply an estimated 54,000 pounds of foods from every major food group to Champlain Valley BOCES schools serving free lunch to approximately 14,000 students.
Made important connections between local producers and community partners, including facilitating the distribution of 900lbs of donated beef from Rolling Hills Farm to Essex County Women, Infants, Children.
Participated in the formalization of a statewide network of food hubs to build resilience in our food system and create collective efficiency and opportunity by working together.

By investing in this new direction, EFH is increasing its support to local producers, making it easier for institutions to access local foods, and increasing access to local foods in our communities more broadly.

On top of this, we have just been awarded more than $730,000 by the New York Food for New York Families program for a project designed to create new markets producing an annual half million dollars in revenue for farmers annually. The future is full of opportunity for our food community if we ensure EFH can get through the final stages of the transition!

The Challenge

Essex Food Hub has been operating with borrowed Hub on The Hill assets in a facility it must now return to Hub founders. For the past year and a half, we've been working hard to raise the necessary funds to remain in operation, cover the costs associated with doing business as a brand new nonprofit, and acquire all assets from The Hub on the Hill and elsewhere needed to expand this work.

The good news is that, to date, we have raised more than $1.25 million from numerous sources, including the following, without whom we would not be here today:

Adirondack Foundation, including the Bill and Lisa Powers Family Fund, Sudden and Urgent Needs Fund and Generous Act
Charles R. Wood Foundation
Cloudsplitter Foundation
Essex Community Fund
JM McDonald Foundation
New York Health Foundation
New York Food for New York Families program, funded through the USDA
Glenn and Carol Pearsall Adirondack Foundation
Patrick Leahy Farm to School grant program, funded through the USDA
Numerous individual community donors

However, much of this funding contributes to our programmatic needs, meaning we still have a significant remaining need to complete our purchase of equipment and settle into our new home.

How YOU Can Help

We know EFH can continue to support local food systems and local producers, tackle food insecurity, and provide dynamic solutions for building our rural economy and addressing climate change. A food hub is an incredibly vital resource and we want to keep one here to serve our community!

Since launching our fundraising goal, we have come to terms with the reality that purchasing our current facilities for $545,000 is simply not feasible- or a sustainable investment for us. To that end, we have identified a new location we are working on finalizing leasing terms with, which greatly reduces our overall transition costs. With the funds we’ve already raised, this puts us almost at 50% of our goal.

You can help keep Essex Food Hub in our community by closing the $526,334 gap between our first two years’ startup costs and funds raised!

What YOUR Help Will Make Possible

Above all, your help to close this gap will keep Essex Food Hub in our community.

In the immediate, your support will help us do the following:

Complete our organizational transition
Strengthen EFH organizational structure & readiness
Continue to invest in operational growth

Most important for us will be finalizing the transition to the new 501c3 organization, which includes purchasing operating assets and relocating to a facility that we can financially sustain. Overall, the next period at a glance will look like this:

We are all excited for the future of Essex Food Hub and the opportunities it presents for our community. With your help, we can ensure that a food hub continues to exist for our region. Please donate what you can and share widely within the community!

All gifts to Essex Food Hub, Inc., a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit registered organization, are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.

Help Keep North Country's Food Hub!

By Essex Food Hub, Inc.

Help Keep North Country's Food Hub!

Support Essex Food Hub to succeed The Hub on the Hill and continue serving our community