Our mission includes Food Assistance: ensuring access to fresh, local food through matching government benefits at the Belmont Farmers' Market, and by supporting community organizations with similar goals (see details below).

Your donation supports food assistance and our other programs.

Food assistance at the Belmont Farmers’ Market

Matching SNAP dollars  We match shopper SNAP dollars at the Belmont Farmers’ Market, up to $25 each Market day per shopper. SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly Food Stamps). The table at right shows the total amount of our match each year.

Shoppers have told us how important that extra money is. Each week, it lets them put fresh, local produce on their tables. Read more about matching SNAP and other benefits at the Market.

Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) The Commonwealth gives SNAP recipients between $40 and $80 in instant rebates on produce each month. We have three farmers in the program. In 2021, our shoppers received about $21,000 in these instant rebates!

Matching WIC & Senior FMNP coupons  We match WIC and Senior FMNP (Farmers’ Market Nutritional Program) coupons, which are used to buy produce from participating farmers. In 2021, local organizations began distributing WIC FMNP coupons at the Market, which brought in many new shoppers.

Our food assistance program benefits vendors as well as shoppers Shoppers take home extra food with these benefits, and our vendors get extra sales. So it’s a great deal for everyone!

SNAP match
2011:  $ 956
2012: $ 1,388
2013: $ 1,898
2014: $ 2,725
2015: $ 1,808
2016: $ 1,887
2017: $ 8,324
2018: $ 6,613
2019: $ 5,768
2020: $ 9,599
2021: $14,814
2022: $20,996
2023: $26,290

FMNP match
2016: $825
2017: $2,023
2018: $1,905
2019: $2,178
2020: $1,835
2021: $1,475
2022: $2751
2023: $4,725

Food rescue and distribution

Food For Free In recent years, produce vendors donated unsold produce and baked goods to Food for Free. Their volunteers took the food to local food pantries, meal programs and shelters in the greater Boston area. This lasted through the 2021 season.

Food Link In 2022, Food Link extended their food rescue and distribution program to include Belmont Farmers’ Market. Volunteers pick up extra produce at the end of Market days, and distribute it to food pantries and other organizations to distribute to those in need.

“You’ve got a stellar program.”
– A monthly donor.

Boston Area Gleaners   Volunteers glean fields after farmers finish their harvesting, which saves good produce from being plowed under. They deliver fresh produce to food pantries and meal programs. We believe that access to fresh produce is important, so we support their work with frequent donations.

Food For Free
2010:  9,401 lbs
2011:  5,868 lbs
2012: 6,805 lbs
2013:   5,810 lbs
2014: 10,100 lbs
2015: 15,810 lbs
2016:   7,615 lbs
2017: 7,200 lbs
2018: 7,600 lbs
2019: 7,350 lbs

Donations to BAG
2012:   $100, 2929 lbs
2013:   $450, 3840 lbs
2014: $1,500, 6749 lbs
2015: $1,500, 8478 lbs
2016: $1,000, 8940 lbs
2017: $1,030, 7210 lbs
2018: $600, 2678 lbs

Food education

Community growing  We grew hundreds of pounds of vegetables for the Belmont Food Pantry in past summers. The project started in someone’s front yard (2012), added raised beds at Belmont’s Beth El Temple Center (2013), beds at Belmont High School (2014), and beds at Rock Meadow (2015).

We have changed the program to be an educational one: Our garden at Rock Meadow is used to teach families how to raise their own produce.