The Maryland Department of Agriculture has announced that Mountain Laurel Medical Center is one of the eight nonprofits receiving grants from the Maryland Food and Agricultural Resiliency Mechanism Grant Program.
Mountain Laurel Medical Center, dba Western Maryland Healthcare Corp, plans to use its $35,000 grant to launch the Western Maryland Fresh Food Initiative in partnership with Garrett Growers Cooperative. The initiative aims to bring local fresh food and non-perishable staple food to the residents of small communities in Garrett County. Once a week, Garrett Growers will deliver fresh fruits and vegetables to designated areas determined by Mountain Laurel Medical Center to provide residents with the opportunity to have fresh produce and staple foods. Beneficiaries of the program will be rural, low-income residents in Garrett and Allegany counties who are struggling to access quality food.
Established in 2023, the grant program is intended to help Marylanders who face food insecurity access healthy food while providing a market for farmers to sell their products. The grant program allows Maryland food banks, charitable emergency food providers, and some nonprofits to request funding to purchase and process surplus, seasonal, or contractual agricultural/seafood products listed in the Certified Local Farm and Fish Program and deliver them to Maryland families in need throughout the year. The funding priority is to purchase agricultural/seafood products listed in the Certified Local Farm and Chesapeake Invasive Species Provider Directory.
“Recipients of these grants represent programs from the Eastern Shore to the mountains of Maryland,” said Maryland Department of Agriculture Secretary Kevin Atticks. “Additionally, this program highlights the State’s efforts to connect farmers and seafood companies with residents who are food insecure.”
A full list of organizations receiving grants can be found at MDA.Maryland.gov.
For more information about this grant program, including information on the next round of grants, please contact MFARM Program Administrator Karen Fedor at [email protected].
