The Jubilee Farm Stand

Submitted by LaSheryl Walker, Jubilee Community Outreach Director, and Matt Smith, Assistant Project Manager-PepsiCo Hope

The Jubilee Farm Stand was a big success. It was run almost 100% by the Jubilee community; 6 women volunteered to run the Operations, Finances, Marketing, and HR. After a 1 1/2 hour training, they recruited additional volunteers and smoothly ran everything from packaging to sales to bookkeeping. They manned the stand from 9:00-3:30 in what some of them said was the first day they had worked in a long time.

It was an amazing display of creativity and team work. They created an incredible atmosphere that cannot be recounted with word. They turned on music and a spontaneous dance party even broke out. Hundreds of neighbors came by to enjoy the fun and good food. One woman said her favorite part of the day was the conversations with neighbors she had never met. This was truly an example of the power of food.
They sold $454 worth of fruits and vegetables, which equaled about 630 pounds of produce or 2,500 servings

This was the first test where we turned a profit. Jubilee earned a 15% margin (about $70). The money from this test will be used to buy the produce for the next test (Thursday March 11th). They ran out of produce mid-day and were turning people away so they increased the order for the next test by about 50%.

It was amazing to see how food brought different cultures together in ways that would otherwise be difficult. The ladies worked very well together supporting and encouraging one another.

The following day during the debrief the women discuss how things worked and each of the them talked about sharing different job positions to allow each of them to experience other job responsibilities. They also came up with ideas like doing taste tests during the sales to show how different cultures prepare foods and how they taste.

We still have some work to do to prove that this model can be sustainable but last Thursday was a huge step in the right direction. This group of 6 women is now calling all of the shots, including when the next farm stands will be and what will be sold. The ladies are gaining skills that will be marketable and have the opportunity to use Jubilee as a reference for future employment. This community ownership made last week's test far more successful than any of us could have imagined and has inspired us to push even farther to tap their full potential.

Come check it out this Thursday, March 11!