NORWAY — The Oxford Hills Food Collaborative is closing.
Kristin Benedix, executive director of the Progress Center, said Wednesday that the state of the economy, particularly in the Oxford Hills area, and the center’s programming needs were the deciding factors in closing down the four-year-old venture.
The store is scheduled to close 4 p.m. Friday, May 11. Benedix said the community supported agriculture shares will continue as usual up to and including the May 16 share distribution but no new shares will be available. There will be someone at the store for those who pick up their shares May 16. All merchandise is 50 percent off.
“It’s much different than it was when we opened in 2008,” Benedix said of the collaborative that started as a joint initiative of the Progress Center, a group of small family farms and Healthy Oxford Hills. The 30-year-old Progress Center at 35 Cottage St., where the market is also located, is a nonprofit organization that provides services and teaches life skills to developmentally disabled adults in Norway.
Benedix said at the time the collaborative began, Progress Center clients grew much of the food themselves but with different programming needs, and changes in state funding and the Department of Health and Human Services, time allowed during the day for the clients to farm became less and less.
The three employees, including store manager Jessica Paradis, a 2004 Oxford Hills graduate and native of Norway, have been reassigned within the Progress Center programs, Benedix said.
The collaborative grew to include a dozen farms that offered fruits, vegetables, cheese, eggs and other goods to members who bought shares in the collaborative or to the public at large at the store. The share guaranteed a full season, 15 weeks, of local, farm-fresh produce, cheese, eggs and flowers delivered to a home or office within a 15-mile radius of downtown Norway.
“We worked with a number of farmers large and small, some as far away as Farmington,” Benedix said. But with many local farmers markets available, competition also played a role in the decision to close.
ldixon@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.