ORANGE — The Quabbin Harvest Food Co-op is still open and is adjusting to accommodate customers during the COVID-19 pandemic, adding remote ordering of groceries and curbside pickup.
Shoppers concerned about being in the store can submit their orders by emailing a list of groceries and supplies requested to quabbinharvest@gmail.com or by calling 978-544-6784. Customers can then pay with a credit or debit card over the phone, or in person when picking up the order. Those who pay over the phone can call again when they arrive at the store, and a staff member will place the order directly in the trunk of shoppers’ vehicles if they wish to avoid direct contact.
The co-op is also enrolling people in the state-funded Healthy Incentives Program (HIP), which fully reimburses Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients for a biweekly share of fresh vegetables and fruits at rates based on the size of the participants’ household and benefit level. The program has been reinstated after being briefly suspended while legislators worked to secure funding for it. People can enroll at any time, according to a Quabbin Harvest press release.
Cathy Stanton, chair of the co-op’s board of directors, said the changes started last week after people began contacting the market and expressing a desire to buy food without entering the store. Stanton said the board listened to the input and examined the global situation, realizing “it could get worse and weirder for little grocery stores.”
The food co-op also plans to launch a new Recipe for Wellness program in partnership with the Orange-based nonprofit Seeds of Solidarity in late April. Recipe for Wellness will provide 20 Orange families with biweekly boxes of farm-fresh fruit and vegetables from Quabbin Harvest over the coming growing season, according to the release. Participants will also be able to attend self-sufficiency workshops on wellness, cooking, gardening and budgeting, run by the Seeds of Solidarity Education Center in Orange.
Recipe for Wellness is funded through Orange’s Community Development Block Grant and low- to moderate-income residents may apply, even if the need is due only to the COVID-19 crisis.
The application deadline has been moved to April 10 as a result of the pandemic. Applications for both HIP and Recipe for Wellness are available at Quabbin Harvest. Application forms can also be downloaded from the quabbinharvest.coop website and returned in person or by mail to 12 North Main St., Orange MA 01364. Early applications are encouraged because space is limited.
Quabbin Harvest, at least for now, remains open during its regular hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. Staff are following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for maintaining cleanliness and safety in the store, including sanitizing surfaces more frequently.
Stanton said business has increased at the market in the past couple of months. She credits this to a massively successful fundraising campaign in February and plenty of “panic-buying” on the part of shoppers concerned about possible food shortages and the potential for a shelter-in-place order.
“I think people are looking for smaller alternatives to big supermarkets,” Stanton explained.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.