The Adams County Farmers Market hosted a festive celebration of its growth and success at ACFM’s Annual Meeting 2025 at the Barn Resort on March 12.
ACFM’s stated mission — “to provide equitable access to fresh, nutritious food and support economic growth by strengthening the bond between agriculture and the community through our direct-to-consumer farmers market” — was on proud display. Takeaway copies of the organization’s 2025 Poster for attendees to post at their businesses were available at check-in, and copies of ACFM’s impressive 6-year Progress Report lay next to a suggestion box for names of its new logo on a corner display table.
Members, partners, sponsors, elected county and state officials, community partners, staff, volunteers, and vendors partook of craft beverages and a grazing table during a casual networking session in the hour prior to brief opening remarks by Board Chair Scott Woods.
Woods (who is cofounder of Maggie’s Farm Gettysburg) welcomed and thanked all attendees and emphasized the importance of establishing community. Once the business of approving the 2024 Annual Meeting Minutes concluded, Treasurer Betsy Wargo (retired WellSpan Health Community Nutrition Educator) took the floor to present a financial overview of the past year.
Wargo reported that the 501(c)(3) nonprofit received its final payment from a $93,697 USDA-FMPP grant (which assisted further development of the market’s food assistance programming) awarded in 2020. Acknowledging that many sponsors were in attendance, she talked specifically about the impact of sponsorships and donations (totaling 24% of $288,793 in revenue), of keeping vendor fees competitive (10% of 2024 revenue) and the core value of reimbursing vendors selling food to the voucher and program assistance programs (79% of $291,096 in expenses).
Designated assistance programs comprised 63% of 2024 revenue and grants the remaining 3%. Administrative costs comprised the remaining 21% of expenses.
Increasing foot traffic and adding new customers, she said, will assure a thriving fund to assist “our needy neighbors that are looking to access nutritious food” by focusing on variety in the vendor mix and maximizing ACFM’s space at the Gettysburg Recreation Park.
“The importance of collaborating with partners cannot be emphasized enough…,” she said. “It’s something I realized is truly special about Adams County organizations wanting to work together.”
Wargo also complimented the “eclectic, very skill-oriented variety” of ACFM’s board members as one of its greatest assets before introducing the next speaker, Karen Rollins-Fitch, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility with sponsor Highmark Wholecare.
Leading to a high note in the evening, Rollins-Fitch introduced the managed care organization and described her role there.
Highmark Wholecare is a managed care organization based in Pittsburgh that services insurance needs for Medicaid and Medicare “for our neighbors who have a little less money… we are really in touch with people that are a little more vulnerable than maybe some of the folks in this room,” she said.
Rollins-Fitch seeks out organizations meeting the needs of low-income residents and credits Kathy Gaskin (ACFM Board Vice Chair and Executive Director of Healthy Adams County) with steering her to the ACFM.
“I’m going to tell you that Adams County’s is about my favorite farmers market,” Rollins-Fitch said. “I hope you take advantage of the jewel that you have … Are you ready for the check?”
With a bit of fanfare, Gaskin and Reza Djalal (ACFM Marketing Director) accepted a $30,000 donation from Highmark Wholecare. (Gaskin, Djalal, and Rollins-Fitch are pictured above.)
Once the applause quieted, Djalal introduced Kristin Vought, Regional Executive Director of Philanthropy overseeing the Gettysburg Hospital Foundation at WellSpan Health.
Vought explained that most people are unaware that WellSpan Health is a nonprofit health system responsible for giving money back to the community and helping those in need.
Its purpose is three-fold: to raise funds for a thriving healthcare workforce with initiatives related to recruiting the next generation of healthcare team members, to provide state-of-the-art healthcare achieving the best clinical outcomes, and to create a healthier community by addressing issues such as food insecurity.
“We know that 80% of a person’s health is related to nonclinical factors; WellSpan believes that partnering with community agencies and organizations to truly improve the health of our family and friends is important,” she said. “And the farmers market is a great example of that.”
Since 2011, the Gettysburg Hospital Foundation has partnered with the Adams County Food Policy Council to support Healthy Options — a program supporting families and seniors who are ineligible for SNAP benefits but experiencing food insecurity. The program provides them access to healthy, fresh, and local foods from the ACFM and Kennie’s Marketplace.
Vought said that In 2011, Healthy Options served 25 families; today the Gettysburg Hospital Foundation has provided over $1.5 million to Healthy Adams County in support of Healthy Options and other food access programs serving over 2,500 families and individuals.
“We’re really proud of our strong partnership,” Vought said.
On a personal note, she mentioned that she enjoys taking her 2-year-old son, Luke, to the ACFM, where he looks forward to sharing a doughnut with Mom and looking at all the strawberries and cantaloupes and blueberries.
Djalal capped the evening with the Marketing Manager’s Presentation — an overview that highlighted the positive impact ACFM is making on hunger-related issues and small businesses and farms.
He began thanking all the sponsors and partners and giving a quick shout out to ACFM volunteer Muso Nyiwul, “a wonderful asset…who shows up every morning and really pulls her weight as an outstanding volunteer.”
Djalal started his presentation with what he termed “bad news” about increasing food insecurity trends. Data from Feeding America, a national charity organization that collects hunger-related metrics by county, indicates that food-insecure individuals in Adams County increased by 10.3% in 2022.
Forty-five percent of Adams County food-insecure individuals do not qualify for SNAP.
ACFM-facilitated food access programs — such as SNAP “Double Dollars,” the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program, the WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program, and Healthy Options — are steadily increasing ACFM’s positive impact. The market’s assistance program redemption climbed to $99,825 in 2024 (up from $38,625 in 2018). Djalal said a lot of work is being done at ACFM to facilitate greater impact on hunger in the future.
The ACFM’s model, he said, is uniquely situated to have positive effects that ripple out into the rest of the community. One of ACFM’s core values is to contribute to Adams County’s economic vitality by serving as a catalyst for new business growth.
One of dozens of such small businesses at the market, Mariam’s House of Hummus received 25% of its sales at the 2024 ACFM through assistance programs. When Mariam and her family came to the United States as refugees from Syria, he said, ACFM worked with her settlement agency to help her start a new business at the market.
“I think this anecdote underscores how the development of greater food assistance resources at the farmers market really ties directly to the success of new food and farm businesses,” Djalal said.
Capping his presentation, he asked everyone to leave thinking about how “the challenges of food insecurity can be treated as an opportunity to develop new shoppers that support local businesses and purchase local products.” In closing, he invited everyone present to attend the April 26 opening day and promised a lot more to come.
Kathleen Glahn (ACFM Founding Member and Past Chair) delivered brief closing remarks sparking excitement about the April 26 opening day. She thanked everyone present —state and country representatives, Brian Moyer from Penn State Farm Markets as well as community members, board members and sponsors — for helping ACFM become what it is today.
“We know that our success did not happen overnight. It took a team effort and we’re all part of the team,” she said.
She went on to say that many local residents are passionate about understanding the County’s agriculture, its fruit belt and beautiful landscape, and about stimulating new business startups by creating opportunities for small businesses to showcase their products in a direct-to-consumer marketplace.
“I have to admit (ACFM) is one of the best marketplaces to start up the food farm business and to actually test new products,” Glahn said. “And you have the president of WellSpan Mike Cogliano shopping next to maybe a family on food assistance. You have volunteers, you have sponsors. Everybody’s on the same playing field at the market because they’re all in need of shopping for fresh food. … We are very proud of the work we’re doing.”
The 2025 annual ACFM opens April 26th at Gettysburg Recreation Park, 545 Long Ln., and runs seasonally on Saturdays, 8 a.m.–1 p.m. For detailed information about vendor applications, food access programs and the non-profit’s mission, visit https://www.acfarmersmarkets.org/opening-day.
Congratulations! Having been a customer at the market from the beginning I am so proud of and excited by the growth and increasingly diverse offerings at the market. The continuous work to provide locally grown and prepared foods, accessible to all through a variety of nutritional programs, not only helps the customers, but helps to sustain and grow local producers and small businesses. The market staff and volunteers have met many challenges from the pandemic, to finding and moving to a new space, while retaining and growing its loyal customer base. Brilliant work. Thank you.
The ACFM season begins on April 26, 2025 not May 26, 2025.