A farm stand in Summerland is giving back to the community.
"Summerland has no grocery store, so the only food we have is gas station or liquor store food, which makes the food supply very unstable," explains Leslie Person Ryan, CEO of Sweet Wheel Farms.
So in 2018, Sweet Wheel Farms opened a farm stand providing chemical-free organic fruits and veggies to the community.
"We have cabbage, romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, we have beets," says Ryan while showing off the produce.
Quickly, the non-profit farm realized that food insecurity was also due to physical access.
"We put a sign out. It was just at that point, a really simple, small sign that said, 'Do you know a family or children that need food'?" Ryan said.
In just two years, the food delivery program has grown to serve 200 people, powered by volunteers like high schooler Ethan Klawhun, who decided to take the delivery service to the next level.
"I knew that I had the connection available to make it a zero-emission process so that we are impacting this community socially and environmentally," Klawhun said.
Klawhun’s employer, E-bikery, recently donated four electric bikes to Sweet Wheel Farms for local deliveries to recipients like Guidance Moon, who says her epilepsy makes it difficult to drive.
"Being able to go back and forth from the grocery store and carry all those things is really impossible for me, but them coming to my doorstep, bringing delicious, farm-grown food for me and my kids has been a life-changing resource for us, it really has," Moon said.
For information on food donations and to volunteer visit https://sweetwheelfarms.org/.
