Editor’s note: This week, to tie together our previous issue theme of My Economy with the upcoming theme on Sharing Food, we’re publishing a five-part series featuring vendors from the Goshen (Indiana) Farmers Market. Photographs are by Deborah Haak and words are by Elisabeth Wenger.
Bill Mateer is a loyal market customer and a member of the market board. He loves being a regular here, meeting friends on Saturday morning, and joining in the life of the community. “Goshen isn’t unique in supporting local food, arts, and community, but they’ve done such a good job nurturing those values,” he says. And looking at the market as a board member, he’s proud of how well it supports the local community as a 501(c)3, being set up from the beginning to handle food stamps, and doing things like partnering with area health clinics to provide vouchers for their patients who can buy healthy, fresh foods to incorporate into their diets. But there’s always room to improve. “We need to broaden that sense of who’s part of the community. You find a lot of college-educated people here, which is great, but we are trying to work on ways to be conscious of who feels welcome here, and extend that welcome further.”
