For five years, a band of volunteers, led by Diane Stacy, McCoy Community Farm coordinator, have harvested, weighed and delivered fresh produce to area food pantries. While picking the cucumbers, eggplants, green beans, kale, peppers, pumpkins, summer and winter squash, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and zucchini grown on the one-acre plot, many regular volunteers wear vivid green t-shirts adorned with “McCoy Community Farm” and the tagline “Filling empty bellies.”  

Since 2013, they have distributed nearly 59,000 pounds of produce to Amos House in Providence, East Bay Food Pantry in Bristol, Good Neighbors in Riverside, St. Mary’s of the Bay in Warren and TAPIN in Barrington, where food insecure individuals can come for fresh and packaged foods. About 12 volunteers harvest, weigh and sort twice weekly  – Tuesday evenings and Sunday mornings – during the late June through mid-October growing season, said Ms. Stacy. 

With seasonal changes as inevitable as changes in volunteers’ life circumstances, McCoy Community Farm needs a new volunteer farm coordinator. Although Ms. Stacy and her husband Doug will continue to volunteer, she must step down as farm coordinator, due to increased work and family commitments. 

Both Ms. Stacy and Dr. Charlie McCoy say the coordinator needs no farming knowledge, but organizational and delegation skills are essential. While faithful volunteers remain, including Jane Donnelly who will write the e-newsletter and handle public relations, a new coordinator or co-coordinators must lead the initiative and manage the logistics. Proud of the good foundation she’s set for the next coordinator, Ms. Stacy added, “I look forward to actually getting my hands [dirtier] as a volunteer.” The new coordinator, said Dr. McCoy, also must be dedicated to the mission of getting fresh produce to people who wouldn’t otherwise have it. 

Duties that the new coordinator must do or delegate to others are these: Recruit volunteers and coordinate their schedules, record the weights of produce picked each harvest day and report distribution information monthly to the Food Bank each month; monitor the use of produce boxes and order more as needed from the Food Bank; communicate with food pantries and soup kitchens and their volunteers who pick up produce; purchase garden tools as needed (costs are reimbursed by Food Bank); walk the field on harvest days to determine must be harvested and weeded; and greet and instruct harvest day volunteers.

He bought a farm

How did it get started? Dr. Charlie McCoy, a nephrologist at Rhode Island Hospital, bought the 125-acre property some 10 years ago; 40 acres are open lands and the remaining acreage is woodland. Dr. McCoy wanted someone to farm the land and, after connecting with Chris Clegg, of Four Town Farm in Seekonk, Mass., Dr. McCoy offered Mr. Clegg a deal: In exchange for growing produce on 15 acres here rent-free, plant seedlings on one acre of land from which produce will be harvested and donated to local food pantries.

“I … had the idea that we should grow food for people who didn’t have access to local fresh food,” said Dr. McCoy. Acknowledging that his idea was “not a unique thought,” with widespread interest in eating locally, Dr. McCoy talked with Rhode Island Community Food Bank staff about what types of produce were most needed. As a member of an informal Food Bank group, Women Ending Hunger, Ms. Stacy saw a Food Bank newsletter notice seeking a farm coordinator, and thought it would be more meaningful than her earlier volunteer work educating people about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, once called food stamps). 

McCoy Community Farm volunteers have included students from Bryant University’s Community Activism Leadership Organization, Roger Williams University, Johnson & Wales University’s women’s soccer team, St. Luke’s Middle School in Barrington, as well as individuals from UBS Financial, volunteers from TAPIN, and local families and individuals, said Ms. Stacy, of Smithfield.

Digging for community service

On Sunday, Oct. 1, long-time volunteers Olin Guck and his mother, Victoria Guck, of Barrington, took a break from hauling boxes of tomatoes to talk with this reporter. “We talk about how the food goes to soup kitchens [for] those in need, and how these fruits and vegetables aren’t perfect like in a grocery store, but people will be appreciative to have [them],” said Victoria. Olin’s volunteering at McCoy Community Farm is related to his efforts toward earning a Boy Scouts of America Star Rank – two levels below Eagle Scout, he said.  

“Diane has done a fabulous job … she’s the person who’s made [this happen],” said Dr. McCoy, who called himself “an inconsistent volunteer” at the farm. “I just had the land and the idea, and I put a little bit of money into it.” 

Regular volunteers and Barrington residents Jane Ryan, Poppy Silva and Rosie Wallis also volunteer at TAPIN. Calling the produce “immensely important” to TAPIN’s clients, Ms. Silva said the vegetables are vastly better than canned produce, which is laden with sodium. “Our clients are not able to get fresh vegetables … they’re expensive,” said Ms. Silva. “They really appreciate all of this.” 

For more information about the volunteer coordinator position, contact Kelly Seigh, volunteer & special events manager at the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, at kseigh@rifoodbank.org or (401) 230-1679.

Nancy Kirsch is a freelance writer in Providence. Contact her at nancykirsch.com.