A couple months back when I first relocated back to my family farm in Oregon, I started to think about how I could give back to the local community while I was spending an ample amount of time in Medford. There is a new organic farm down the way from my house there and while we’ve known them since we moved 17 years ago, they opened up a beautiful organic farm store called Fry Family Farm in the last couple of years!
Fry Family Farm is the largest producer of certified organic vegetables, fruits, flowers and berries in the Rogue Valley
Aside from fresh and seasonal produce, Fry’s offers baked goods, dried goods, fermented products, pickled vegetables, jams, mustards, sauces, vinegars, cheeses, salts, hot sauces and dips all in a cute and modernly decorated farm store.
While they do participate in 5 Farmer’s Markets per week, when I approached Amber Fry about donation, she explained that while Fry’s would love to donate full time, between all of the things they do and participate in (including many of their own events in the year), there just isn’t enough time to do it all. This sparked an idea for me, and I started doing research.
I researched all of the organizations in Jackson County, and came across one that I found very interesting. The Maslow Project provides supportive serves to homeless children (ages 0-21) with the goal of bringing stability to their lives so that they may stay in school and complete their educations. Offering food, clothing and hygiene supplies help get these kids some normalcy, but Maslow goes even further than that.
They have an outreach team that goes out into the community and offers basic needs and additional information on their services. They go directly into school to seek out those in need to offer direct support for them and their families. They also offer individual and family mental health counseling and crisis intervention counseling to kids and families that just need a leg up. In-house programs and activities are even offered for youth to learn, create and connect. Maslow is blessed with an amazing team of volunteers and staff to make this all happen!
The average age of a Maslow youth is just 10 years old.
After doing this research, I instantly knew that this is who I wanted to donate to. They have a food kitchen, so I called to ask some questions and then got set up with Fry to do the donation. They have been so wonderful to partner with to create not only fresh meals, but organic and healthy ones!
I’ve been donating 1-2 times a week for several weeks now, and they are so thankful every time that I do. I will continue to donate and help the youth of the community whenever I am in town, and I can’t thank Fry Family Farm enough for being so awesome to work with as well as their incredible generosity!
Maslow Project is located at 500 Monroe St. Medford, Oregon 97501
What have you done to give back to your local community? Does this encourage you to consider it?
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