RVGA INC

• This year we've already provided over 500 locally grown snacks to our students...with at least 3,000 more to come!
• Six bus-loads of children are scheduled to visit Rondout Valley farms
• Our farmers are collaborating to produce cafeteria-ready products specifically to feed school kids
• Healthy after-school snacks are in the works for kids who stay late for learning or sports

The Rondout Valley is one of the most fertile and productive agriculture centers in the world – yet many of  our families with young children will never eat farm fresh produce, shop at a farmer’s market, or visit a working farm. Many factors limit access to locally-grown food, not the least of which is a food system that promotes commodity foods grown in faraway places.

There is one place where ALL of these obstacles can be overcome...SCHOOL! 

In 2020, the Rondout Valley Growers Association and our partners brought “Just-a-Bite” to Ellenville school children. This program purchases local produce from Rondout Valley Farmers, processes it into bite-sized portions, and delivers it to school children.  Education is a vital component of healthy eating, so included with Just-a-Bite, each child learns about local farms, how the produce is grown, cooking instructions, and the health benefits of eating fresh foods.

This year, our goals are ambitious and your partnership is vital to bring locally-grown food to our school children.

1.   Expand Just-a-Bite to more Community Eligible Program (CEP) schools, where all children are eligible for 100% free-lunch.

2.    Bridge the financial gap for school cafeterias so they can purchase locally-grown foods to serve in school meals.

3.    Fund trips for school children to visit working farms in the Rondout Valley.

4.    Launch a pilot program to supply FREE Rondout Valley-sourced fresh food boxes for families in CEP schools, with multilingual and multimedia cooking classes.

100% of your donations will go to fund these programs. Our goal of $10,000 reflects our shared commitment to ensuring equal access to healthy, locally-grown food and education for all of our families with young children. 

Please give today!!!

Gratefully,  The Rondout Valley Growers Association

Help local farms survive the coronavirus!

To provide us with safe, healthy, fresh food, our farmers must innovate now to survive.

Our small farms are hard-pressed to grow the food we need while changing their business models on the fly. Innovation requires money! That’s why your farmers need you to support this GoFundMe.

The farmers of the Rondout Valley are stepping up to feed our community with fresh, healthy, and SAFE food during the pandemic. When grocery shelves are sparse and our neighbors are in need, our local farmers keep us fed and healthy.

Slate magazine recently summed up what we are seeing in the Rondout Valley:

Demand for community-supported agriculture shares and one-off deliveries from local farms has increased rapidly since quarantines started. But farms are struggling to meet this demand. Most don’t have the infrastructure, even as they desperately need the new source of revenue...The collapse of the restaurant industry in recent weeks has left farmers—particularly small ones with low profit margins—at risk.

In response to these challenges, our growers are innovating by moving online to web-based ordering platforms and experimenting with coop-type selling groups, virtual CSAs,  delivery and farm pick-up options.

For example, Tyler Dennis at Alewife Farm, while working sunup to sundown, is developing novel sales channels to make up for revenue lost from coronavirus restaurant closings.


Aileah Kvashay at Clove Valley Farm, when she’s not transplanting seedlings for this year’s harvest, is building an online sales website late at night.


If everyone who values locally grown food donates $10-$100 or more to the Rondout Valley Growers Innovation GoFundMe, we will surely raise our goal of $20,000. The RVGA will disperse 100% of this money to farms who are adapting their business models to beat back the effects of the coronavirus.

This is a great way to ensure we, the community who is nourished by local farms, have access to healthy safe food during this crisis and beyond.

Thank you for supporting your local food champions - farmers!

Help spread the word by sharing this GoFundMe on FB, Instagram, Twitter…!