(Tompkins Weekly, 1-14-26, by Elizabeth Karabinakis)
Healthy Food For All (HFFA) was founded in 2006 to help low-income households gain reliable access to locally grown produce while supporting nearby farms via Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). What started with just a few farms feeding 18 households has grown into a nationwide best-practice model helping to nourish approximately 2,000 community members annually with food from over a dozen family-owned farms in Tompkins County.
Responding to the upsurge in food-insecurity during COVID-19 in 2020, HFFA expanded beyond the “traditional” CSA model that grows produce for member households and launched a pilot “Pantry CSA” to help nourish people relying on emergency food assistance during the health and economic crisis.
Liz Karabinakis, HFFA’s director, vividly remembers the first meeting with farmers and pantry coordinators to explore the idea of a Pantry CSA. “There was palpable excitement in the room, and from my 20 years of leading food security initiatives, I knew we were embarking on a major breakthrough that was going to elevate farm-to-food assistance in our area and inspire communities nationwide.”
In the first year of operating the pilot, hundreds of households gained access to nutritious fruits and vegetables, and local farms received over $20k in revenue for helping with hunger relief.
Based on overwhelming positive feedback from food pantry partners and farmers alike, HFFA adopted the program and established the region’s first Pantry CSA to ensure a reliable supply of high-quality farm-fresh produce for emergency food assistance.
In this innovative Pantry CSA model, the food pantry and local farm collaborate in advance of the growing season to identify a crop list and harvest calendar. Seeds are sowed and food is harvested and hand delivered at peak freshness to provide pantry clientele with a vibrant and diverse assortment of fresh produce rich in nutrition, flavor and cultural popularity.
Spotlight on Here We Are Farm and Enfield Food Pantry CSA
Here We Are Farm is a woman-owned vegetable farm on Perry City Road, founded by Ariana Taylor-Stanley. Located just five miles down the road is Enfield Food Pantry, serving approximately 500 households weekly.
For the past two years, Here We Are Farm has been growing, harvesting and delivering food for Enfield Food Pantry as a part of Healthy Food For All’s Pantry CSA program.
Every week throughout the growing season, Ariana and her staff hand- deliver an array of colorful, freshly harvested produce to Enfield Food Pantry and personally distribute everything to pantry clientele, providing an opportunity for people to meet the farmers growing their food. “The farmers are so amazing with the pantry clients, sharing with them what everything is and how it can be used,” explained Tracy Davenport, pantry volunteer who oversees distributions. Tracy expressed her gratitude and enthusiasm toward the HFFA program and Ariana’s work, detailing the experience as “food assistance at its best.”
Ariana describes her appreciation for the Pantry CSA Share model and how it aligns with her vision of farming. “Everyone should have access to quality nutritious food, and farmers should be able to make enough money to cover the cost of growing food in ecologically and socially responsible ways, including paying workers fairly for their labor.” Being contracted in advance and compensated to help reduce hunger is a farmer’s dream. “We get to grow food for people who need and want it, without a morsel going to waste.”
To continue supplying local pantries with fresh produce in 2026, $15,000 needs to be raised by early March for farms to purchase seeds and prepare for the growing season. To make a donation and help nourish neighbors in need, please go to www.HealthyFoodForAll.org or contact info@HealthyFoodForAll.org / 607-241-0469 for more information.
Healthy Food For All is a project of the Center for Transformative Action, a non-profit 501c3.
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