LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — For the last seven years, Black Soil KY has worked to increase the market share for black farmers across the commonwealth by encouraging people to eat healthy, locally-grown food.
One of the ways Black Soil KY helps Kentuckians eat locally is by distributing food to feed families from local farmers.
“Our mission is to connect black Kentuckians to their heritage and legacy in agriculture,” said Black Soil KY Marketing Director Amber Fuller. “Anything and everything to help those black farmers get their products out in the world and get the word out about them.”
For the fourth time, Black Soil KY and Aetna Better Health of Kentucky worked together to feed Kentucky families around the holidays.
“Every time you leave the grocery store, you’re like oh my gosh, where did all my money go,” Fuller said. "So it’s just really nice to be able to continue this partnership with Aetna and provide really healthy local ingredients for people’s tables.”
Since the start of November, Black Soil KY has given out 50 meals at eight locations around the state. That adds up to 400 meals donated in the past month, and that number is even smaller when you hear how many families Black Soil KY has fed in 2024.
“We had a goal this year that we were going to feed 16,000 families,” said Fuller. “We blew past that to 18,600 families, and we’re very excited about it.”
Today’s distribution in Lexington is the last one of the year, and Black Soil Ky brought meals, including a bag of food and a large turkey, to Exhilarating Inc. on Deweese St.
“Being able to give and know that they’re going to have something for the Christmas holiday is awesome,” said Exhilarating Inc. Executive Director Mattie Morton. “You can see when they pick them up how thankful they are to get it, so just to see the smile on people’s face is priceless to me.”
For a few of these distributions, Black Soil KY made use of their new Sprout Mobile Farmacy Market. Next year, the mobile market will be out and about from June through November.
You can also check out Black Soil in person from Mondays through Thursdays at their Farmacy market just off of Lane Allen Rd. You can find out more information about Black Soil KY on their website.
