Neighborhood Philanthropy: Oxford Community Market
With the start of Summer, we thought it would be nice to highlight one of our favorite farmer’s market in the area, the Oxford Community Market. This local non-profit organization is focused on food access. They operate a weekly Mississippi Certified Farmers Market along with programs to make healthy, local food accessible to all people in the Lafayette and surrounding communities, especially those facing barriers of cost and transportation.
Betsy Chapman is awesome. That’s all I can say. She has been the director of the Oxford Community Market for more than 7 years, and she has created something lovely and meaningful and bountiful in this community.
Not only does the market provide a space every Tuesday afternoon to get delicious, homegrown food from local vendors, but their mission also states, “The Community Market connects growers and producers with customers, delivering affordable, regionally grown and nutritious foodstuffs. The Community Market promotes better health, social awareness, and public dialogues that drive a sustainable economic system for vendors, customers, the market, and the communities we serve.”
The Oxford Community Market currently has 8 other projects “working” in the LOU (Lafayette-Oxford-University) community. Some of these projects are geared towards certain holidays, like their Harvest Angel Project, which provides Oxford food pantry families with lots of fresh produce, baked goods, honey and eggs for their Thanksgiving meal. While other projects are on-going, like their “Oh, Snap” project and their Senior Voucher program. You can also find the Oxford Community Market crew and volunteers out in the community digging and creating community gardens in neighborhoods to both facilitate community and provide gardening education and their own food!
Learn more about the Oxford Community Market here or pop by to see them every Tuesday from 3:00-6:30 pm at the Old Armory Pavilion. A HUGE thank you to Betsy Chapman, the staff, volunteers and board of directors for all you do for the LOU community! Donate or become a volunteer TODAY!
