Volunteers in action on Sept 15 with blueberries and oranges
The Village Harvest was about in the middle of the month on the 15th. The middle also relates to our numbers this year as of September.
Numbers in September returned closer to average. 83 were served compared to only 25 last month. 83 is just over the yearly average of 80. Most of the lower numbers were after May and were concentrated in the summer. Hopefully we are moving out of the summer slump. Catherine thinks that the signs and word of mouth helped the increased numbers in September.
Possibly the increased COVID rates played a part. The new reported cases using 2 weeks is up 36%. The positivity rate in Caroline County is high at 11% (14 day average), suggesting that cases are being significantly undercounted.
Last month the number of pounds were 1461 and this month was 45% lower at 797. (Andrea estimates that our 50% of our supply was from August). A better number may be an average of the two or 1129. It would still be under the average for the year of 1219.
A better measure for the Harvest is not absolute numbers of visits but the number of pounds the typical client took home and the value in dollars. Both measures have been increasing in 2020 and 2021.
The average pounds per person is 15 compared to 12 and 13 for 2019, 2020 respectively. While client visits for the year are down from 2019 to 2021 from 1,026 to 723 or just under 42%, actual pounds were down by less or 35%.
Another measure is a dollar value. The value per client is $86 compared to $76 in 2019 and $83 last year based on $6 per pound.