Elder Share Program

Since its beginning, Stone Soup has worked with CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture) and Urban League to provide donated fresh produce to senior citizens in under-served communities in Springfield.

The program has come under difficult times recently due to lack of funding, and we need your help!  This year, in addition to the funds CISA raises and the donation Stone Soup can provide, we are giving our regular CSA members a chance to contribute to this important program.  Any amount written  in the Elder Share box on the signup form will go towards bringing more shares to the Seniors.

Fact:  Stone Soup is able to provide another farmshare to the program for every $90 donated.

Please help our community and give if you can!  If you give to the farm, 100% of the donation will go directly towards purchasing more shares for the Seniors.  Or, you can donate to CISA, which is a nonprofit organization, in which case your gift will be tax deductible, and be split among all their Senior Farmshare locations.

The Elder Share Program is described by CISA as follows:

CISA’s Senior FarmShare program gives low-income seniors in Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden counties access to fresh vegetables and fruit during the height of the growing season.
Seniors become shareholders at local farms and receive weekly shares of
produce, either on-farm or through deliveries at local senior centers
or Councils on Aging.

Senior FarmShare provides critical food
assistance to a vulnerable population, offers farmers a reliable source
of income, and builds strong ties between farmers, seniors, and the
community organizations that host the distributions.

In 2009, we are serving more than 300 participating seniors, in partnership with 14 local farms and 17 distribution centers.

Click here to see the Senior FarmShare 2008 Fact Sheet [pdf]

For further information about the program, please contact Claire Morenon, Program Coordinator at (413) 665-7100.