The Summer Associate will be supporting Community Food Programs in the Palouse region to supply fresh, locally grown produce through the food pantry and harvest-share at the Community Action Center (CAC). This is a critical need in the community, where food insecurity is a documented chronic problem facing diverse populations (see www.cacwhitman.org/palousetablesproject/). The CAC’s harvest-share project includes hydroponics greens grown onsite, edible landscaping, community garden plots, gleaning at school gardens and farmers markets, and securing produce from local partnering organizations.

Member Duties : The Community Food Summer Associate will help maintain common lobby produce area, common garden areas, and edible perennials plants between family garden boxes to help achieve a sustainable garden program and to help families keep vegetable plants healthy. This will be implemented by weekly produce rotation in the lobby and distribute past primes, watering schedule and training gardeners on water practices. The SA will design and implement a weekly common area wedding plan and plant health checks. The SA will support mobile farmstand operations which will be achieved through 10 ride-along trips to different regional communities. The SA will support local sourcing of produce, loading, and unloading onto mobile farmstand, displaying produce at host community events and interacting with customers and handling the pay-what-you-can payment system.

Website link here: https://my.americorps.gov/mp/listing/viewListing.do?id=87958&fromSearch=true#new_tab