The holiday season is often called the “season of giving”, but for many families it can also be the season of hard choices – between groceries and heating bills, between a full cart and a full tank of gas, between fresh food and whatever stretches farthest. Food insecurity doesn’t take a holiday. In fact, winter can intensify it: school breaks can pause access to free or reduced-price meals, seasonal work can slow down, and unexpected expenses stack up fast. Yet December also brings something powerful – communities ready to help, eager to rally around meaningful causes, and willing to direct their generosity where it can do the best.
That’s why the holiday giving and food security season is such a natural fit for the Farmer Veteran Coalition (FVC) and the veterans we serve. At the crossroads of agriculture, service, and community resilience, Farmer Veterans are uniquely positioned to transform holiday generosity into practical support: nourishing food, stronger local supply chains, and relationships that continue long after the decorations come down.
Why Winter is a Crucial Moment For Food Security
Food security is not simply about calories. It’s about reliable access to nutritious, culturally appropriate food that supports health and dignity. Winter disrupts routines in ways that can make even stable households vulnerable. Utility costs rise. Travel becomes more difficult. Fresh food can be harder to find in rural areas, where long drives and limited retail options already pose barriers. For older adults, people with disabilities, and families without dependable transportation, the gap can widen quickly.
Holiday giving can be a bridge over that gap – especially when it supports local food systems rather than one-time fixes. When communities invest in the people who grow food nearby, they reinforce a network that can respond faster during crises, keep dollars circulating locally, and promote healthier outcomes.
The Farmer Veteran Connection: Service That Continues at Home
Veterans understand mission, logistics, and the importance of showing up for a team. Many bring those strengths into agriculture: planning, perseverance, and a deep commitment to taking care of others. Farming is service in a new uniform – one that requires early mornings, long seasons, and a steady belief that the work matters.
During the holiday season, that ethic shines. Farmer Veterans often step forward not only as producers, but as community anchors: donating meat and produce, partnering with food banks, offering farm-based volunteer opportunities, and collaborating with other local businesses to make food more accessible. These efforts aren’t charity in the abstract; they’re neighbor-to-neighbor support rooted in trust and shared responsibility.
What Holiday Giving Can Look Like – Beyond a Single Donation
Holiday support for food security can be immediate, and it can also be strategic. Here are a few high-impact ways communities and partners can channel December generosity:
1) Farm-to-food bank partnerships
Food banks and pantries frequently need protein and fresh produce – items that are often harder to source than shelf-stable goods. Holiday giving can underwrite “bulk buys” from local Farmer Veterans allowing pantries to distribute nutrient-dense foods while supporting farms with predictable revenue in a slower season. It’s a win-win: families receive high-quality food, and farms gain a reliable market channel.
2) CSA shares and “giving boxes”
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs are a direct line between farms and households. During the holidays, supporters can sponsor CSA shares for families experiencing hardship – especially powerful in rural communities where options are limited. “Giving boxes” can also be tailored to meet local needs: winter greens, root vegetables, eggs, pantry staples, and meaningful add-ons like recipe cards or culturally familiar items.
3) Holiday meal kits featuring local ingredients
Meal kits aren’t just for subscription services. Local partnerships can create holiday kits that include ingredients from multiple veteran-owned farms: a roast or turkey, seasonal vegetables, herbs, and even locally milled grains. These kits can be distributed via nonprofits, mutual aid networks, or schools – and they can also be sold with a “buy one/give one” model that funds donated meals.
4) Matching gifts that build long-term capacity
The most durable food security solutions invest in infrastructure: cold storage, delivery capacity, wash/pack stations, season extension tools like high tunnels, and food safety upgrades that open new markets. Holiday campaigns can invite donors to match gifts that support Farmer Veterans in building that capacity – helping ensure communities have dependable local food sources year-round.
5) Volunteer days with purpose
Many people want hands-on ways to give. December volunteer events can support pantry packing, farm sorting, gleaning, or winterization projects. When volunteers meet the farmers and learn the mission, giving becomes relational – and relationships are what sustain solutions.
Why Buying Local is a Form of Food Security
Food security isn’t only about assistance; it’s also about stability. When communities buy from local farms – especially small and mid-scale operations – they strengthen a regional food web that can withstand shocks. Local purchasing reduces dependency on long supply chains that can be disrupted by storms, fuel spikes, or market volatility. It helps keep farmland in production. It supports rural jobs. And it preserves critical knowledge about how to grow food in a specific place.
Farmer Veterans contribute to that resilience. By investing in their success – through holiday purchases, partnerships, and giving – communities reinforce the systems that ensure food access in all seasons.
A Season for Gratitude and Action
The holidays remind us that food is more than nutrition. It’s belonging. It’s comfort. It’s a table where people feel safe. If you’ve ever watched a family exhale when they receive a box of groceries or seen a neighbor tear up after being handed a bag of fresh produce, you know food security is deeply personal.
This December, holiday giving can do more than fill a gap – it can strengthen the bridge. It can connect donors with Farmer Veterans, farms with families, and communities with a mission that lasts beyond the season. Whether someone gives by purchasing from a veteran-owned farm, sponsoring a CSA share, supporting a food bank partnership, or funding the infrastructure that keeps local food moving, they are participating in something bigger than a single meal.
At the Farmer Veteran Coalition, we believe Farmer Veterans are part of the solution to building a stronger, more resilient food system – one where service continues at home and where the harvest supports the whole community. In the food security season, generosity becomes strategy: investing in the hands that feed us, and ensuring every neighbor has access to nourishing food, in December and all year long.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
Thank you for your generosity,
Jeanette Lombardo
