Organization for Refugee
and immigrant Success
434 Lake Ave, 2nd Floor
Manchester, NH 03103
www. refugeesuccess.ord
www. treshstartiarmsnh.com
May 5th, 2021
Dear Susan,
My name ts Laurel Witri, and | am the Food Access Specialist at the Organization for Refugee
and Immigrant Success, an ethnic-community based nonprofit organization in Manchester, NH.
We run several programs that serve the new American communities in our state, including a
farmer training program, healthy families program, employment services, a youth program, and
our mobile market program. | manage the mobile market program, which is essentially a
farmer's market on wheels, which was launched in summer 2019. We started with 3
limited-income housing sites in Manchester, and have expanded fo 19 “community food access”
sites in Manchester and Concord last year.
This year, we are expanding into Nashua, and have been working with our colleagues at Grow
Nashua and other organizations to identify gaps in the fresh food access for Nashua residents.
We are targeting northwest Nashua, an area that is more sprawling and has Jess focused food
access work happening currently. The Amherst Park Apartments building is our first partner to
sign on, which houses seniors and families. We are in conversation with several oiher potential
pariners as well, and expect to visit Nashua once a week throughout the summer season.
Our market offers fresh, local, fruits and vegetables, meats, eggs, and dairy at a negligible
markup, and residents with SNAP/EBT receive 50% off produce through the Granite State
Market Match program. We do not cover the cosi of operations by sales, and this is a
grant-funded program. We barely break even on procurement alone, and we see what we do as
a setvice rather than a business enterprise, however we are always working towards building
sustainability with partnerships and sponsorships. The city of Manchester waives our vendor
fee, and the city of Concord considers our site visits “charitable events” instead of, say, “food
truck” stops.
We would appreciate it if the city of Nashua also waived our fee for our vendor license, however
we would be happy to pay it if necessary and are ready to do so upon request.
1 can be reached at lwitri@refugeesuccess.org with any questions.
Kindly,
Laurel Witri, Food Access Specialist, ORIS
