Hudson Valley Hospital Center will expand its farmers market in its fourth season next year with the aid of a $99,899 grant recently awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
A spokesperson at the hospital in Cortlandt Manor said it was one of 10 organizations in New York and the only one in Westchester and Putnam counties to be awarded some of the $52 million distributed nationally for such programs through the 2014 Farm Bill.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in an announcement this week called the funding a move to bolster the organic food industry and improve access to fresh foods for millions of Americans.
Hudson Valley Hospital Center President John C. Federspiel said the hospital”™s nearly $100,000 award was the second highest grant in the state. “These funds will allow us to expand our farmers market and to further our goal of reducing chronic diseases through healthy eating,”™”™ he said in a press release.
Federspiel said the grant helps provide a venue for local farmers to increase sales and will help the hospital make the market more accessible to the community through a series of community outreach efforts. Grant money also will be used to purchase Electronic Benefits Transfer machines so that market vendors can accept food stamps, making fresh foods more affordable for lower-income residents.
More than a dozen farm vendors participate in the biweekly markets, part of the Hospital”™s larger Harvest for Health initiative, which also includes an organic garden, teaching kitchen and a locally sourced food service for patients and employees.
The farmers market”™s final days this season are Oct. 14 and 28 and Nov. 11 and 25.
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