Acorn seeking new volunteer base

Acorn vendor Joe from Ferial Hummus, with store manager Kenny Frost.

Acorn Farmers’ Market & Café, Manchester’s local farmers market, is a neighborhood farmers market selling locally-sourced meat, dairy, and produce, baked goods, freshly prepared ready-to-eat foods, and coffee! All items are priced by the producers, directly for Manchester customers. Farmers keep 75% of each sale — more than four times the national average! Acorn also hosts local events focused on agriculture, nutrition and the arts.

As a 501(c)3 non-profit, Acorn relies heavily on volunteers in addition to its paid staff.

“We want to make sure people are aware that Acorn is going to rely a lot on the goodwill of a lot of volunteers!” said Laura Billetdeaux, board vice-president, whose role is to recruit and coordinate volunteers at the store. “At any given time in the store, we have just one or two paid employees … checking out, scooping gelato, making espresso drinks … but there are a lot of other things that volunteers can do that will make running Acorn more efficient.”

These tasks include checking price tags, rearranging produce, checking freshness, “facing and fronting” merchandise — nothing hard, says Billetdeaux, just all time consuming. “If we can get lots of people in the community to step up, it would be really helpful,” she adds.

When the store was only open a few hours per day, three days per week, Billetdeaux says, her job was pretty straightforward; with the increased hours, stock, and new vendors, her role has changed proportionately. “Right now we have seven or eight volunteers handling these tasks; we are going to need more like 15, 20 or even 25 to make it all happen.”

She added that volunteering for Acorn is a great way to contribute to having healthy food options in our community. As a non-profit they can’t afford to simply hire people to stock the shelves. “We’re not at a break-even point yet, so we are being cautious with our dollars, to help us get there,” she said.

If you are interested in volunteering, starting in January, contact Laura at LBilletdeaux@gmail.com for more information.

Some of the volunteer roles that are needed each week include:

• Tuesday 9-11: loading Lakehouse Bakery and Calder items on shelves
• Thursday 9-10: loading Lakehouse Bakery items on shelves
• Thursday 4-6: loading Cherry Capital items on shelves
• Saturday 9-11: loading Lakehouse Bakery items on shelves and welcoming Saturday morning customers
• Every day: 6-7 pm: closing café support, primarily cleaning (i.e., wiping down the coffee machine, etc.)
• Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 9-10: Store opening volunteer – preparing for the market day – make sure the shelves are clean, items are forward and placed correctly, etc. Might involve some cleaning/wiping down of store surfaces
• Coming soon: online order fulfillment volunteer to pack bags for whatever days are decided to do this.

Realistically, Billetdeaux says, volunteers could start these new roles in January, and, “if we had people pop in during December, that would be great. But with the busy-ness of the holidays, we’re not expecting it.”

Store manager Kenny Frost said that every little bit helps when it comes to volunteer assistance. For Acorn to continue to serve the community, your help is needed! Tasks are simple in nature, but training will be provided.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.