On the edge of the City of San José’s Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services’ Emma Prusch Farm Park lies an urban farm cultivating fresh foods for the community; food that has become increasingly important. The farm is called Veggielution.

Established in 2008 with the mission “to connect people from diverse backgrounds through food and farming to build community in East San José,” Veggielution has become an asset for San José residents.

The East San José community in particular has benefited from the resources that Veggielution strives to provide, but most importantly, the families have benefited from the sense of community that Veggielution has built. The major goal of the non-profit is to bring people together, and it uses food as the connection. Now more than ever their skills and services are valued by the residents who receive food from Veggielution and their partners.

A number of community members have been homebound for various reasons, especially older adults who are in vulnerable categories. Isolation has made it harder for these residents to get the meals they need. Because of this, Veggielution took on the task of meeting the needs of those facing food insecurity.

Working together with local urban agriculture organizations and regional small farms, Veggielution produces 50-100 meals, three times a week. The food is grown at Veggielution and uses the City of San José’s Gardner Community Center Kitchen to prepare the hot meals.

In addition, Veggielution is finding other ways to help community members who may be struggling. The program employs as many as eight local “Eastside Grown” mobile food program participants at various times. Veggielution also takes the opportunity to share community resources including printed material about COVID-19, public assistance programs, as well as self-care and other personal necessities.

The City is proud to work with Veggielution as part of the vast network of teams helping our residents across the valley to keep #SiliconValleyStrong.

Together, we are working hard to continue to build community through ensuring food security. Working within a large network of food distribution, #SiliconValleyStrong connects those in need with #FoodHero teams like Veggielution.

If you are in need, you can use the resources from Silicon Valley Strong website to find the food resource nearest to you. Visit siliconvalleystrong.org, call 2-1-1, or text your zip code to 898211.

#SiliconValleyStrong #SVEats #KeepSVHealthy