PLYMOUTH — A campaign championing local fresh food is sprouting in the Spartan community.
The Food Dignity Movement, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making local farm produce more accessible, is launching a new partnership with the Wyoming Valley West School District. The partnership, supported by a state grant, is meant to connect area farmers with Valley West schools and people throughout the district eager to bring home food from local farms home for their families.
Several Food Dignity and district officials held a ceremony to unveil the program at Wyoming Valley West High School on Thursday. Clancy Harrison, the founder and executive director of the Food Dignity Movement, said the program offered exciting new opportunities to both farmers, the school district, and the community.
Attendees pick their produce during the opening of a produce stand in conjunction with a farm-to-school partnership between The Food Dignity and Wyoming Valley West School District on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
“The big goal here is to pay farmers fairly and connect local food to local people,” Harrison said.
“We’re here to…make sure our farmers are supported and stay in business and stay in business, growing awesome food…for generations to come,” added Amanda Gordineer Ferry, the Food Dignity director of operations.
The partnership between Food Dignity and Wyoming Valley West consists of two projects. One will bring local produce stands to locations throughout Valley West schools, with volunteers distributing food to any interested passersby. People who stop by the stands can take as much food as they need for free and can choose to leave whatever size donation they want to the project. Wyoming Valley West students, largely hailing Student Council and Key Club, worked a stand at the high school Thursday and delivered food to the community.
Clancy Harrison, Founder and Executive Director of Food Dignity, speaks during the opening of a produce stand in conjunction with a farm-to-school partnership between The Food Dignity and Wyoming Valley West School District on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
“We want everyone to come, access this food,” Harrison said. “Take what you need, pay what you can, (whether you are) the richest person, the poorest person.”
The other project will help provide local produce to Wyoming Valley West to be offered in school lunches or other school meals. This will be accomplished via Food Dignity’s student-led food hub at the Wilkes-Barre Area Career & Technical Center, through which locally produced food is aggregated and then offered to school districts at prices that are economical for both the districts and farmers.
Area farms involved in the partnership include Rowlands Pennsylvania Produce, Burger’s Farm Market, Endless Roots Farm, Darling Farms, Brace’s Orchard, and TwoFold Farm & Studio, a representative for the Food Dignity Movement said.
Somaya Genovesi, a freshman at Wyoming Valley West, speaks during the opening of a produce stand in conjunction with a farm-to-school partnership between The Food Dignity and Wyoming Valley West School District on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
“We’re going to be working with the school food service and getting local food into the school means and we’re going to do it step by step,” Harrison said. “So, when future funding comes down the pipeline, we will have a system in place (and) the relationships with the farmers.”
Abby Singh, the Wyoming Valley West food-service management coordinator, said she was excited to both support farmers and provide aid and dignity to families in the district who may need help. She emphasized the pedagogical and social benefits the program would bring to Valley West students.
“I think…a really important piece of the education is knowing where the food is coming from, where it’s grown,” Singh said. “And the fact that it’s local is only going to make it taste better and they’re going to be more interested in trying new things.”
Dr. Charles Suppon Jr. speaks during the opening of a produce stand in conjunction with a farm-to-school partnership between The Food Dignity and Wyoming Valley West School District on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Wyoming Valley West Superintendent Charles Suppon Jr. also extolled the program, citing the mutual benefits it would bring to farmers, students, and people throughout the district. He said the Food Dignity program reflected Valley West’s broader principles of community and compassion.
“It’s a win-win for everybody….We’re uniting as a community, we’re uniting as a district, and we’re supporting one another,” Suppon said. “Wyoming Valley West is more than just education. It’s coming together and this kind of highlights what it means to be a Spartan.”
The state Department of Community & Economic Development awarded Food Dignity a $78,000 grant in support of these programs. Rep. Brenda Pugh, who helped secure the state grant for the district, lauded the program as a tool both to help farmers and improve health and livelihoods of people in need. She noted that her office has worked on several other projects with Food Dignity.
“The Food Dignity program, it really is second to none. It is bringing local farmers together with people that need it,” Pugh, R-120, Dallas Twp., said at the ceremony Thursday. “So, when we have people that are struggling, when we have people that may not be able to afford to put food on the table, it’s stands like these that can do that with healthy food.”
Wyoming Valley West junior Katherine Bushati and sophomore Leon Ly, two friends working at the produce stand together at the high school Thursday, said they were glad they and their classmates were creating an inclusive resource for families throughout the district.
“I’m happy that we could come out here and give out all this food,” Ly, a Key Club member, said. “It’s great for the community, it’s an open environment, open to all.”
Wyoming Valley West freshman Somaya Genovesi, a member of the Key Club and Student Council, spoke during the ceremony Thursday. She credited both her classmates for volunteering their time to advance Food Dignity’s mission, as well as the host of farmers and nonprofit workers who made the stand possible. Reflecting on economic hardships people currently face, Genovesi said she was proud to be part of an effort to unite people around a good cause.
“It’s bringing the community together,” Genovesi said. “And it’s showing how we can all work together to do something really great.”
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