2021-08-15T11:10:45-07:00 2019-12-31 990EZ 2019-01-01 263662215 FOOD WORKS FOOD 6183703287 PO Box 3855 Carbondale IL 62902 Jennifer Paulson Executive Director 6183703287 2021-08-14 2019 2022-09-23 18:48:47Z X www.fwsoil.org X X 50741 X 23570 20143 456 0 0 0 0 0 6572 763 5809 0 0 0 0 49978 4300 0 21780 1258 8979 609 8813 45739 4239 3288 0 7527 3288 7527 0 0 0 0 3288 7527 0 0 3288 7527 Growing a sustainable food system in Southern Illinois. 1. Operated the Carbondale Community Farmers Market (winter season market)providing the community with access to fresh, locally grown food. Served approximately 35 vendors and 4600 community members. 0 7691 2. Provided support services for farmers markets to be able to accept SNAP, including healthy eating incentives. Operated the program at 2 farms markets and served approximately 170 low income households. 8500 4461 3. Supported the development of sustainable farmers through the Southern Illinois Farming Alliance. Held workshops, field days and other educational events on sustainable farming and small business practices. Served appropriately 490 people. 2500 3908 16060 Jennifer Paulson Executive Director 15 7398 0 0 Libby Ervin Farming Alliance and Market Coordinator 15 6328 0 0 Jill Rendleman President of Board of Directors 1 0 0 0 Jessie Jo Warner Farmers Market Manager 15 3810 0 0 Brad Genung Vice President of the Board of Directors 1 0 0 0 Sandra Sorensen Farm Beginnings Coordinator 3 2850 0 0 Marjorie Sawicki Farm Beginnings Coordinator 3 170 0 0 Rhea Joslin Farmers Market Assistant 0.8 481 0 0 Kimberly Miller Secretary of the Board of Directors 1 0 0 0 Marika Josephson Director 1 0 0 0 Karen Schauwecker Director 1 0 0 0 Charles Bradley Director 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 IL Jennifer Paulson PO Box 3855 Carbondale IL 62902 6183703287 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 NONE NONE 1 X 65624 78140 38393 73573 24026 279756 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 65624 78140 38393 73573 24026 279756 279756 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 279756 26715 1 1 X RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED Form 990-EZ, Part I, Line 10 Line 10- Funds given to farmers markets for the operation of the Link Match program. Form 990-EZ, Part I, Line 16 Line 16: Other expenses reflect program expenses for the Carbondale Community Farmers Market, Southern Illinois Farming Alliance, Southern Illinois Farm Beginnings, and for participation in the network ReGenerate Illinois. Specific costs include mileage, credit card fees, food, supplies and promotions. Our small grassroots organization was severely impacted by the Covid 19 pandemic during the time we should have been preparing and filing our 2019 taxes. The organization felt those impacts primarily in terms of available staff hours, ability to fundraise to pay for staff hours or an outside tax service, and the way in which we enacted programming and generated program revenue. Beginning in March of 2020 and continuing through the first half of 2021, all 4 of our employees found their living and working circumstances significantly disrupted and were not able to dedicate the same level of time and effort to the organization as they had before the pandemic. Food Works' Executive Director found herself the sole caregiver in her household which contained a severely ill spouse, 2 young children, an elderly person- preventing her from performing many of her professional duties until recently. Food Works' other 3 employees are farmers and/or small business owners (considered "essential services") and they all experienced significant disruptions in their businesses in 2020 and 2021, including unpredictable fluctuations in consumer demand and adapting their businesses to pandemic restrictions. Normally we consider it a stregenth that our employees have real-world ties to the local food and agriculture economy because it gives them important insight when performing their Food Works duties. However, as providers of food to our local communities, we all felt that they had a responsibly to prioritize those activities during the pandemic because our region experienced food shortages in grocery stores and consumers relied on local food producers to fill the need. Our Board of Directors faced similar challenges as staff, including disruptions to their "essential service" and "frontline" businesses, and were not able to provide support. One Board Member lost a spouse to Covid-19. At the same time that Food Works was experiencing significantly reduced staff availability, our funding and program revenue models were severely disrupted, including the inability to hold in-person fundraisers, making it impossible for us to afford to hire an outside accountant to complete the bookkeeping and taxes. Food Works also experienced dramatic changes in programming due to the pandemic, generating increased costs and reducing revenue. For example, our largest program, the Carbondale Community Farmers Market, had to move to a new location because of Covid restrictions, had to reduce the number of vendors to allow space for social distancing which reduced revenue generated through vendor fees, and invested significant time and resources into creating an online ordering system with contactless curbside pickup to keep staff, vendors, and customers safe. We felt that it was important to divert whatever time and resources we did have to adapting the farmers market in response to Covid because it is an important source of healthy food for low-income community members and its vital role in the local economy as one of the few outlets for local small food and farm businesses during the winter season. The Carbondale Community Farmers Market was the only market in the region during that time where customers could use SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and also receive free fruits and vegetables through a double coupon program- a program that saw increased use during 2020 and continuing to present day. Because of the circumstances, we chose to dedicate what little staff time and resources we had to this role of feeding food insecure people in the community during those uncertain times, but it came at the cost of meeting other obligations. The extension we received for our 2019 990EZ expired during the time that we were still facing all of the challenges described here. Food Works is now on a path of recovery and as part of that effort, we have caught up with bookkeeping and are filing our taxes. It is our hope that our small grassroots organization is not hindered heading forward because of the way we were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the choices we made to serve the community during those difficult times.