Nonprofit Central Oregon Locavore is launching a spring membership drive and fundraiser to upgrade basic freezer equipment at their seven day a week indoor farmer’s marketplace on NE Third Street in Bend.
Central Oregon Locavore is a 501c3 organization that supports local food and local farmers. Since the COVID-19 stay at home mandate Locavore has maintained full operations as an essential grocery service, and has proved to be a leader in early implementation of sanitization measures.
Since Stay Home, Save Lives was announced on March 23 by Governor Kate Brown, the Locavore Indoor Farmers Market has nearly doubled their business, and the domestic stand up freezers that house the locally raised meats from over 18 local ranchers are not capable of withstanding the busy retail setting. In the last two months they have experienced three of their domestic freezers stop working and have had to scramble to find alternatives. Currently there are no freezers available in Central Oregon, the soonest any freezers are expected to arrive is July.
“We are so incredibly lucky to live in an area where there is access to locally raised meats and produce,” says Nicolle Timm-Branch, founder and president of Central Oregon Locavore. “Our local farmers and ranchers are not subject to the fragility associated with the large scale meat production market, they will continue to supply for us, despite what is happening at the huge facilities. But we need to be sure to support them too, and help them increase their sales and ensure that their product is well marketed and cared for at our marketplace.”
Commercial glass-front freezer cases cost between $4,500 and $5,900 per two-door unit. “Locavore is a small nonprofit, and we just lost all of our fundraising revenue from having to cancel our farm to table gala and dinner events,” continues Timm-Branch. “Increased sales in the marketplace has helped a little, but our marketplace is not designed to turn profit, it is designed to support local producers by allowing them to price their products at a living wage, and keeping prices low to increase access to all members of our community.”
Therefore, Locavore has decided to ask for help from the community to help them obtain the equipment they need to move forward. All donations and memberships through the end of June will be applied to new freezers for the marketplace. There is an option to donate in memory of or in honor of individuals, businesses or groups and obtain an honorary sign on the freezer when it is installed.
Timm-Branch states that Locavore is motivated to upgrade their freezer equipment to commercial grade for three reasons, “One is the environment. We have taken over half a dozen defunct freezers to the landfill in the last year and we feel really bad about it! It does not jive at all with our commitment to sustainable business operations. Two, with the current “breaks” in the meat processing and production chain, we anticipate increased local meat sales from our local ranchers, and will need equipment that is up to the challenge. And three, we are very concerned about protecting the product in our freezers — our ranchers work incredibly hard to create a healthy, quality product from start to finish, and it is our responsibility to care for this product with the same care that they do. Our worst fear is one of our freezers malfunctioning or dying and compromising our ranchers’ products. We would feel absolutely terrible.”
Contact Nicolle Timm-Branch at info@centraloregonlocavore.org or 541-633-0674 for more information.
