Help take Eastside Connect to the Next Level

Remember the seedling delivery program? Not only did we deliver seedlings by bike to families in need during the pandemic, but the program itself turned out to be a seed that blossomed into what is now Eastside Connect. You all made this happen during the pandemic when we decided to take a risk, try something new, and do so based on the potential of volunteers like you.

Today, what started out as a pilot program to deliver food by bike to families during shelter in place, is ripe to be taken to the next level. Veggielution would like to scale this experimental program and double the families served by bike from 50 to 100 and we want to make sure that all boxes can be delivered. By joining the pool of volunteers for Eastside Connect you’re helping to ensure that food lands on people’s tables.

For those of you who haven’t been following along, here’s the story. For those who are like, “say no more, I’m ready to sign up”, here’s the link to do so.

It Started with Valley Verde Seedlings

In early Covid days, Valley Verde, a nonprofit that builds community by teaching low income families how to grow food, reached out to SVBC. They were in a bind. Because of Covid, they could not do their usual fundraiser, the sale of hundreds of plants they grew from seed. But they had an idea. Would SVBC deliver the seedlings by bike? We said yes and more importantly, you all volunteered, 150 of you!

Enter Veggielution’s Eastside Connect

The program was such a great success that a sibling nonprofit, Veggielution (in Eastside San José), was inspired to do something similar - deliver boxes of food by bike to CalFresh program participants during shelter in place. In April of 2020 with financial support from the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority, Veggielution and SVBC launched the program and started delivering 40 boxes directly to CalFresh households once a month.

It was so successful that Veggielution now wants to try to serve MORE families by bike. The goal is to deliver two times a month. That means we need more volunteers. Again, if you’re like, sign me up right now, I don’t need to read any more to be convinced, click here.

Not Quite Convinced?

If you’re intrigued but not quite sure if this is for you, let us describe for you the joy of spending time at Veggielution:

Every first Saturday the Veggielution farm is transformed into a bustling community center. Neighbors come to the farm to do Zumba, volunteer on the farm, enjoy the delicious meals prepared on site, and take advantage of the free bike pop-up fix-it clinic. Being on the farm is surreal. Volunteers are treated to the dissonance of shrieking peacocks attempting to drown out freeway noise from above while being surrounded by the oasis and abundance of an urban farm.

Around 9:30am, volunteers for Eastside Connect start to arrive – some with trailer hitches attached and some waiting in line for the fixit clinic to get theirs installed. Once the hitches are installed, we attach the trailers to bikes, and then load up boxes of veggies that are to be delivered. Making sure our riders are ready for the day ahead is crucial, we all fill up on coffee, donuts, or the free Veggielution brunch (which is always on point!), then volunteers roll out on a collective 100 miles of bike-riding, veggie-hauling community service.

Thankfully, the volunteers are not blindly setting off for parts unknown – using a simple signup questionnaire, SVBC staff assigns each volunteer an appropriate distance route with the right number of boxes, and that route is emailed to each volunteer in advance of the day-of. Veggielution provides address stickers for each box so that there is no confusion about who is going where with what.

While some folks ride short distances of 5-10 miles, the more ambitious riders’ routes top out around 25ish miles. Not sure about going it solo? “Ride-along” signups are welcomed and encouraged!

Some Numbers

In 2021, 136 passionate and dedicated volunteers biked 1,407 miles to deliver 378 boxes to CalFresh participants living in East San José, Saratoga, and all the way up to Milpitas. Are you someone who’s been curious about corralling the courage to hook a trailer up to haul stuff? Or are you someone who’d like to explore new areas of the South Bay? Maybe you’re the longer distance rider who’s looking to add some resistance training to your rides… Looking to build up your confidence negotiating busy roads, intersections, and left turns – We’ve got you covered.

We’d love for you to help take Eastside Connect to the next level. Veggielution provides the veggies, SVBC provides the routes, and you get to ride around the beautiful streets of East San José, deepening your appreciation for this special part of San José.

Sign up here to be added to our bench of folks who look forward to that email from SVBC asking for farmbox delivery riders.