Where We Have Been

and where we are going

In the Summer of 2020, a number of national crises diverged, including the pandemic, the divisive political climate, supply-chain issues, unemployment, climate change, and the housing crisis (particularly in Rehoboth). Personally, we felt that our community was fractured, with an ever-expanding group of people in dire need of help. We thought back to experiences we’d had with intentional communities/eco-villages along the east coast, and rather than escaping to one of those, we set out to build our own “intentional community” here in Sussex County, with a broad mission of promoting sustainability with respect to natural resources, food, energy, housing, etc.

            Our primary goal is to supplement the offerings of local food pantry outlets with fresh produce. Many of you may remember the supply-chain issues we all experienced at the beginning of the pandemic, with whole fields of harvested vegetables being turned under because of transportation issues. At the same time as 1 in 4 adults experience food insecurity, the Department of Agriculture reported that 1/3 of all of the food grown in the country goes to waste! AND we have an obesity/malnutrition/diabetes crisis. How can all of these problems co-exist? Also, food pantries have difficulty giving away produce that people don’t have the facilities or knowledge to process, so we started making nutritious meals to use produce that would otherwise go to waste. Our Communications Director, Bridget Sunday, coined the term “Waste-less” program, a name that we love because it fully captures our Sustainability philosophy.

            Over the past year, we have developed a number of donation/recipient partnerships. We receive donations from the garden network we developed with locations at Michela’s Place in Milton, the church grounds of the Unitarian Universalists of Southern Delaware (our church home:), Lewes Community Garden, and the garden/greenhouse here at our house. Other donors include Rustic Acres Farm, Epworth United Methodist Church, and (in-season) The Historic Lewes Farmers’ Market (in cahoots with a gaggle of other “Teresa(s)” who work with Casa San Francisco). The Milton Food Pantry, La Esperanza, and the Community Resource Center (CRC) in Rehoboth all receive and distribute our meals on a weekly basis. We have prepared 3997 meals and donated $39,062 in dry goods & produce to these partners throughout the past year. This is absolutely incredible. The volunteers in this community effort are amazing and tireless, they work to get food to those in need week after week without fail.

            We now have 8 amazing employees/volunteers who keep the wheels turning. In addition, we have received generous donations from personal supporters and other organizations. In April, we received a grant from the “100 Women Who Care of Southern Delaware,” and in September, we were awarded a Delaware State Vision Grant to continue our meal program. We recently applied for a grant to build a catering kitchen in order to expand our program.

            Thank you to all of you who have shared your wisdom, advice, and encouragement, it really keeps us going. Like everyone, we have moments of doubt and are sometimes unsure of how we are received. However, recently one of the volunteers at CRC told me that some of their regular clients call ahead to make sure we’ve delivered before they come. That really made our day!

            In summary, although our current activities may not seem to be valuable in constructing an eco-village or physical intentional community with land, chickens, houses, gardens, energy systems, etc., we feel like we are building (capital “C”) Community one meal at a time. Happy(er) 2022! Sustainability Powered by Community.

– Teresa Ripley
Executive Director