The truth is, it never really has been about cider.
Our vision for this social enterprise has always been to take something we loved and were good at doing and make positive social impact in our community. Cider became the medium for the message.
With the pandemic, like so many people, we have had to adapt.
Our permanent cidery space has been on hold for months with a loosely defined timeline for completion based on a bunch of factors.
But, that part of our social enterprise has not been our biggest concern through these times; we have always been patient with launching Prairie North and feel very passionate about waiting until the right moment. Instead, we’ve been focused on how we can continue to serve our community partners as they also adapt.
Supporting Community Through the Pandemic
One of our new community partners that we’ve developed over the past year is the Multicultural Health Brokers. They have a food hamper program that serves immigrant families, particularly women who are pregnant or with new babies. This program serves the gap that is left by other social services both in regular delivery of food and in providing culturally relevant items and healthy produce. Last fall, Multicultural Health Brokers was serving 100 families through this program; this fall, because of the strains of the pandemic, they have increased to serve over 400 families.
Money doesn’t grow on trees, but food does. Our goal for this season is to continue to serve our community partners in increased capacity. We are going to help the valuable resource of unused local fruit reach its full potential as increased food security for our community.
COVID Donation Protocols
With COVID protocols, we’ve had to make some tough decisions. This year, we feel it is in the best interest of public health to not take on any volunteers or additional staff.
We are going to accept donations of fruit from the beginning of September until the end of October. Our donation program will be contactless drop off by appointment only so that we can adhere to physical distancing protocols. We expect our appointments to book up very quickly.
Our sanitation standards have always been high and COVID safe, so we will continue that protocol, just wearing cute apple print face masks.
Book Your Fruit Donation Drop Off
Coming Soon – Fall Cidermaking Classes Online
We hope that if you find yourself with some extra time at home this fall, you will make some cider with your cohort. We will be launching an online cider school in the next week or two to help you work on your cidermaking skills!
A Time To Create Change
We know this year has been a huge struggle for everyone in nearly every area of life. But we believe that through adversity, humanity has the opportunity to come together and make structural change in our community and the world.
Someday we will sell you cider, but for now, let’s work together in positive social change!
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