• Courtesy
• Prepared meals from La Catrina

March 31 will be the last day of Vermont Everyone Eats, the state's federally funded, pandemic-prompted food relief and economic development initiative. In its place, the Vermont Farmers Food Center is set to launch Rutland County Eats, a prepared-meals program supporting the county's older population and people living in transitional housing.

The Rutland-based nonprofit, which focuses on expanding access to and availability of local food, has been a Vermont Everyone Eats hub since that program launched in August 2020. VFFC partnered with more than 20 area restaurants to serve roughly 3,000 meals per week via drive-through pickups; meals used an average of 30 percent local ingredients, according to VFFC.

Rutland County Eats will be "very similar" to the Vermont Everyone Eats model when it begins in the first week of April, VFFC program director Emma Hileman told Seven Days.

"The model is a perfect model," Hileman said. "We're dedicated to getting food from local farms into every home in Rutland County, and we have all these relationships built. We want to keep the spirit of Everyone Eats alive."

Among the area restaurants that will provide a total of 200 prepared meals per week are Little Haveli, the Rollin' Rooster, Marble Valley Kitchen, La Catrina, Victoria's Authentic Mexican Food, the Stevens Farmstead, Mamma Tamara and Famiglia, and Taso on Center. Meals will be distributed to those in critical need — including homebound older adults and unhoused Vermonters currently sheltered in motels — via community partners such as BROC Community Action.

Funding from a three-year Bowse Health Trust grant from Rutland Regional Medical Center, awarded in 2021, will cover the new program's administrative costs. VFFC is currently running a Spread the Love campaign to generate funds to cover meals through the end of the year and beyond.