Wooden Nickel Program helps make sure everyone can access fresh food
The Wooden Nickel program is a partnership between the Community Resource Center and Manchester Farmers Market. Mirror file photo.
by Keegan Sweeney
Dana Turner-Queen, the manager of the Manchester Farmers Market, and Carol Wotring, the director of Manchester’s Community Resource Center (CRC), believe that fresh food is a human right. To help make that a reality during a low point for fresh-food access in Manchester, the Farmers Market teamed up with the CRC to create the Wooden Nickel Program, which is still going strong today.
The way it works is, the CRC distributes tokens known as wooden nickels to qualifying residents at the Thursday Farmers Market or at their office during open hours. They can then be used to purchase fresh food at either Manchester’s Thursday or Sunday Farmers Markets. The tokens can be used to purchase up to $40 per month of produce, herbs, eggs, honey, and produce-producing plants. Recipients can even opt to have CRC volunteers shop the Farmers Market for them and have the fresh food delivered to their doors. CRC then reimburses the Farmers Market vendors.
The wooden nickel program has been running for years and was part of a solution to address the problem of Manchester becoming almost a “food desert,” a community with limited access to affordable and nutritious foods, with the closing of the only full-service grocery store in the area. Turner-Queen explained that during the years without a grocery store there was nowhere else to get food besides Dollar General.
Although Manchester once again has a full-service grocery store, the Wooden Nickel Program continues to be an important source of fresh food for low-income residents. In addition to the Wooden Nickel Program, SNAP benefits can also be used to purchase food products at the Farmers Market. Turner-Queen said, “If you’re a human, you deserve food and you shouldn’t feel bad about needing it.”
Whether or not you participate in the Wooden Nickel Program, if you shop at the Farmers Market, you are benefiting from it. The program encourages vendors to keep returning to the market, such as their largest producer whose commute and participation would not be possible without the wooden nickels.
Wotring reports that the CRC administers an annual satisfaction survey for the Wooden Nickel Program and people are “overwhelmingly” satisfied with what they can buy and with the program itself. Along with opening up access to food, the Wooden Nickel Program has also proven to increase locals’ sense of community involvement. In the survey, residents indicated they feel more a part of the Manchester community because they take part in the market. Overall, Wotring said, the CRC’s mission is to “connect people to resources that improve their lives, and, whatever those resources are, we want to bring those to Manchester.”
Although the Wooden Nickel Program is being sponsored by the Chelsea Hospital Community Benefit Fund this year, in past years it has been funded by a grant from 5 Healthy Towns Foundation (5HF), through Manchester Wellness Coalition (MWC). Currently 5HF through MWC is funding the CRC’s weekend kids’ meal program. The CRC provides meal kits to students within the Manchester school district, kindergarten to 12th grade, who may experience food insecurity on the weekends. They also currently provide operating support for Manchester Farmers Market.
If you would like to see if you qualify for the Wooden Nickel Program or the weekend kids’ meal program, call the CRC at 734-428-7722 or email info@manchestercrc.org. Along with administering the Wooden Nickel Program and weekend meal kits, the CRC delivers groceries locally to City of Manchester residents and the four surrounding townships. They offer in-person shopping at their food pantry and distribute emergency funding assistance to prevent eviction or utility shut-off. They help locals apply for and/or keep Medicare/Medicaid and federal food assistance programs as well.
Matt Pegouskie, 5HF Community Investment Manager, explained that the 5HF funding for the Farmers Market is just some of the money invested in helping Manchester to eat healthier over the years. “Over $1 million dollars has been granted to Manchester-area projects since 2012,” he commented, “funding ‘Eat Better’ projects, including the Farmers Market/Acorn Farmers Market, school and community garden programs, and food assistance through CRC.”
Pegouskie highlighted how the Farmers Market’s expansion to include Sundays, which started this spring, increases opportunity to access fresh food with the Wooden Nickel Program. “It provides another day of purchasing power,” he said.
He also stated that the Manchester Farmers Market fits into a broader collaboration of markets across the 5 Healthy Towns communities of Manchester, Chelsea, Dexter, Grass Lake, and Stockbridge. Every September, farmers markets from each town join together and organize a Farm to Table Feast Fundraiser. This year, the feast is on September 13 at Grass Lake Park from 4pm to 6pm. Tickets are $75 per person and the feast features live music, a lively silent auction, and a seasonal, farm-inspired meal. All proceeds go toward the five farmers markets. Tickets for the fundraiser can be purchased at 5healthytowns.org.
The Manchester Farmers Market runs from 10am to 2pm at Wurster Park on Sundays, and from 3pm to 6pm on Adrian Street on Thursdays.
Wotring emphasized the importance of the Wooden Nickel Program and the Farmers Market in making Manchester healthier. “We all want to be as healthy as possible, no matter what our income levels are,” she said. “It should be a right for everyone to have access to fresh food. It’s the right thing to do.”
The reporter who wrote this article was paid with a grant from 5 Healthy Towns through the Manchester Wellness Foundation.
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