In Hannah Flanders’s view, the national food system has demonstrated its vulnerabilities in recent weeks and months.
The rising prices of fuel and fertilizer are leading to higher prices at grocery stores, which are directly passed down to consumers. Adverse weather disrupted crop availability, like the mid-January freeze that slowed carrot growth, leading to bare shelves in New England. Changes to federal food programs left nonprofits scrambling to determine the growing need and keep up with demand.
FEED Kearsarge, a coalition of local food access organizations, including Flanders’s nonprofit, the Kearsarge Food Hub, wants to be prepared for the next moment of crisis. Last October, when disruptions to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program took the nation by surprise, the group was caught flat-footed because it was largely dormant at the time.
“We didn’t really know how to support each other too much in the moment of the crisis. And I think it pointed out a little more clearly for me that we need more ongoing communication so that we know how to help each other better in times of crisis, and that it’s not just hopping on a call every four years when something happens,” said Flanders, the Food Hub’s director of community engagement.
Along with Kearsarge Neighborhood Partners, the Food Hub functions as the backbone of FEED Kearsarge, which stands for Food Expansion, Education and Distribution.
Together, their first significant step to move the coalition forward is itself a pioneering idea for the Kearsarge region: a food security summit at Kearsarge Regional High School on Saturday, April 18.
The event is open to the general public, not just to advocates, farmers, volunteers and other stakeholders in the local food system. It will feature an exhibitor fair, three distinct panels and breakout discussions on gardening, advocacy and federal food security programs.
“We’re trying to bring it really, really home for people of how that all plays out for us right here in our neck of the woods,” Flanders said. The event, where the coalition will launch a food security report, is fundamentally “making the case for more coordinated action.”
In the years since FEED Kearsarge was formed in the spring of 2020, the coalition has focused on sustaining two gardening initiatives: The Tray it Forward Program offers free seedling trays and gardening supplies, and the Abenaki Seeds Project distributes heritage seeds and promotes indigenous growing practices.
But other priorities took precedence over the coalition’s development. The Kearsarge Food Hub grew to encompass Sweet Beet Market and Cafe, Sweet Beet Farm, a community fridge, a farmer apprenticeship and other educational initiatives, all based in Bradford, and the coalition fell dormant.
Flanders said organizers hope the summit will prove to be a moment for recalibrating and formalizing FEED Kearsarge. While accounting for as many local voices as are interested, they hope to collectively decide what the coalition’s shared goals will be and what membership will look like.
For those who attend, the event will be a robust day of learning about “what food insecurity looks like,” she said.
“The thing that comes out of those calls in times of crisis is: We need to know each other more, we need to work together more. We need to share resources,” Flanders said. “This is just one part of a broader effort.”
The Food Security Summit will take place at the Kearsarge Regional High School, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 18. Registration is free, although donations are encouraged. Learn more or register at https://kearsargefoodhub.networkforgood.com/events/98174-2026-feed-kearsarge-s-food-security-summit.
