Announcements

Yelm Farmers Market Committee formed

Jeevan Announcements, Yelm Farmers Market Leave a comment

yelm farmers market

In November 2017, Yelm Farmers Market vendors met with members of the BFF Board proposing the establishment of a market committee. This committee would be made up of vendors, other interested parties and members of the BFF Board.

On Dec 5th, a visioning session is being held to create the blueprint for how the market will operate in 2018, how the committee will operate and the role of the BFF Board.

Vendors include:
Jessica Reed of Reed’s Sweet Wine
Karla Broschinski and Thomas Mani of Bee 4 Ever
Austin and Jon Jamieson of J&A Reclaimed
Lucas Howe and Annie Paturka of Root Cellar
Mari Mankamyer and Tim Mann of Mari’s Farm
Susie Kyle of Yummy Local Foods
other members are:
Terra Kram, a community member
Tom Dewell of Bounty for Families Board
Chris Black of Bounty for Families Board

Assisting us will be Mary DeMatteo, the Regional Lead of the Washington State Farmers Market Association (WSFMA) who is responsible for Thurston County among others.

Discussions are focused on the management of the market for 2018. Should this continue to be a market manager managed market? Should it be a vendor operation market? Should it be some combination of the two?

This process is a reinventing one to make sure that the Yelm Farmers Market is a strong viable community presence for a long time to come!

Water Cannon at the Yelm Farmers Market Sept 2nd!

Jeevan Announcements, Yelm Farmers Market Leave a comment

Temps in the 90’s on our next Yelm Farmers Market day, Sunday, Sept 2nd and we’ve got a treat for you!

Let the kids (and adults!) cool off under the spray of the water cannon – looks kind of like this:

yelmfarmersmarket

 

Before and after, visit our great vendors and take some farm fresh fruits and vegetables, or some great crafts, home with you!

The cannon will be “firing” from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. thanks to Glenn Schorno, our host at the Nisqually Springs Farm.

The Vendors of the Yelm Farmers Market

P.S. If you’d like Bounty for Families to be able to keep the Yelm Farmers Market going in 2018, you can help by volunteering for lots of different tasks and/or by making a simple recurring donation. Go here and click on the “Support Your BFF” button: http://bountyforfamilies.org/our-programs/yelm-farmers-market/ …and Thanks!!!

Yelm Farmers Market open until end of Sept!

Jeevan Announcements, Yelm Farmers Market Leave a comment

yelm farmers market

New development: the Yelm Farmers Market will remain open until at least the end of September and NOT close the end of August as earlier reported.

The vendors themselves will be coordinating the operation for the remainder of the season.

We expect all the vendors to return so come out and get your favorite goodies – lots of produce will be featured at the farmer stands, and all the other great products you’ve come to expect will be there, too!

Come support your local farmers market and the vendors – they rock!

Watch this space for developments for 2018’s market.

Yelm Farmers Market ends Aug 27th

Jeevan Announcements, Yelm Farmers Market Leave a comment

yelm farmers market

The Yelm Farmers Market will end its 2017 season Aug 27th.

We have had some great vendors this year who stayed true to the market even though it was smaller this year. We look forward to building 2018 with them and making next year a “reboot” year for the market. Some of those wonderful vendors are Mari’s Farm, Root Cellar Farm, Fardell Farms, Bee Forever, Reed’s Sweet Wine, Rawk Star Creations and  Yummy Local Foods. Thanks so much!

We have also had awesome sponsors like OBEE Credit Union, Olympia Federal Savings, Yelm Family Medicine, Crowe Law, Timberland Bank and Blue Waters Acupuncture Center. Thank you so much!

We are excited that the city administration of Yelm has been so motivated to get us to move back to the city next year. They have adopted all the code change recommendations we submitted to them and now locations are being reviewed to determine if the move from the farm is the right one to make.

yelm farmers market pop kids club

Power of Produce Kids Club was a success again this year with over 400 members! In this program, each child, aged 5-12, gets 2 $1 tokens each week to spend on fruit, veggies or plant starts. Cashing these tokens in gives the kids a chance to learn from the vendors about the products they are buying. This educational aspect to the market is a really important on for us!

Keep checking in with us for details about the Yelm Farmers Market for next year!

 

The Yelm Cooperative is Now Bounty For Families

Jeevan Announcements Leave a comment

Bounty For Families Cartoon Market

2017 will be an exciting year for the Yelm Cooperative!

Earlier this year we got a notification from the IRS that we needed to separate the Yelm Food Co-op retail store from the Yelm Cooperative, which serves as the umbrella organization for both the store and the Farmers Market (yes, we know the names are very similar). While the Yelm Cooperative is a federally recognized non-profit, the store clearly does not fall under that category. As a result, we are splitting the non-profit umbrella organization away from the store, which will now be its own separate entity. The non-profit will focus on what we do best, where our passion lies, and where we feel we can have the greatest impact in the community. As of January 1, 2017, the former Yelm Cooperative will be called:

Bounty For Families Full Logo

Why Bounty for Families? Simple. When we think of signature programs that involve our non-profit arm, all of them involve food and families. For the past seven years, we’ve fed over a hundred local families each year through the Gift of Gobble program, providing full Thanksgiving meals to those in need.

We have raised a total of $32,896.00 for this project and spent nearly $33,775.00 feeding local families.

Through the Yelm Farmers Market, we have also developed the Power of Produce which empowers children to make healthy food choices and learn about where their food comes from each week.

Within the last year, this program impacted nearly 600 young people aged 5-12 and gave them a new perspective on the food they eat. The challenge? This program is fully funded by the Yelm Farmers Market and the Yelm Cooperative to the tune of almost $6,000.00.

For us to continue this popular and effective program, we will need either a corporate sponsor or many individual donors so that we can raise the approximately $5,000.00 we need for the 2017 Yelm Farmers Market season.

In addition, south Thurston County has a large percentage of families that struggle with hunger from one day to the next. There are hundreds of kids in the area that are on the Homeless Backpacks program and special school lunch programs.

Clearly, Bounty to the Families can fill a compelling need in our area and that will be the focus of our work from 2017 forward.

These expanded outreach efforts will take a village. We’ll need committee members for membership, fundraising, outreach, marketing, finance and more, and there will be opportunities to join the Board of Directors as well.

To get involved, contact us at info@bountyforfamilies.com

We look forward to moving into the future together!

Tom Dewell
President, Board of Directors
Bounty for Families (formerly Yelm Cooperative)