Representatives from Crystal Lake Farms and local food pantries work to load trucks with more than 3,000 pounds of chicken last week
Photo: Dustin Bartholomew
Local food pantries are well-stocked with protein this spring, thanks again to local pasture-raised pountry company Crystal Lake Farms.
The company, in association with partners from Fayetteville Roots Festival, donated over 40,000 pounds of chicken to several local food organizations, including NWA Food Bank, Seeds That Feed, Second Mile Ministries, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Salvation Army, and Good Shepard Lutheran.
Photo: From left: Terry and Lynn Cruse (Second Mile Ministries); Margaret Thomas and Alyssa Snyder (Seeds That Feed); Pam Sarnat (St. Paul’s Episcopal), Jerrmy Gawtrhop (Greenhouse Grille, Fayetteville Roots Festival); Lindsey Strong (Salvation Army), Melissa Jones (Good Shepherd Lutheran); and Ryan Craig, Kyle Sands, and Orien Bedwell of Crystal Lake Farms
Photo: Dustin Bartholomew
It’s one of several large donations the company has made in the last few months totaling over 90,000 pounds, company spokesperson Orien Bedwell said.
“This donation came about through our partnership with Fayetteville Roots Festival, and looking at how we can help the community,” he said. “We’ve done these donations before, but we’ve been talking about how we can do this as a more ongoing opportunity.”
Bedwell said the total value of the donation would retail in the neighborhood of $200,000-$250,000.
Pam Sarnat, who helps to coordinate the community meals at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Fayetteville, said the chicken will go a long way toward their mission of making sure folks in Fayetteville don’t go hungry.
“We feed around 300 people a week,” Sarnat said. “This chicken is important for us, because it well help us provide the protein that we try to provide with every meal.”
This is the third time in the last two years that Fayetteville Roots Festival has partnered with Crystal Lake Farms for a large chicken donation. The partnership resulted in a 3,400 pound donation of product to Fayetteville Public Schools and Feed Communities in 2014, and a similar sized donation just before the holidays in 2015.
