The front steps of the Agricultural Hall were filled with boxes of fresh produce and coolers of meat Monday afternoon at the Free Farmers’ Market.

Hosted by Morning Glory Farm, Islanders came to fill their reusable bags with cabbage, carrots, parsnips, broccoli, onions, squash, sweet potatoes and numerous other items free of charge. Goods were donated from various farms and businesses around the Island, including Slough Farm, Island Bee Company, the Fishermen's Preservation Trust and North Tabor Farm.

This was the second iteration of the free market, with the first being held Nov. 3. According to Morning Glory Farm operations manager Meg Athearn, the idea came to her when the federal government temporarily suspended the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) this month.

Zeb and Meg Athearn — a generous mother/son combination.

Ray Ewing

Zeb and Meg Athearn — a generous mother/son combination.

Ray Ewing

“We always contribute to gleaning and work with Island Grown Initiative to come and pick up things if we have excess or donations,” Ms. Athearn said. “But with the SNAP funds, knowing people were going to be extra stressed, we had some excess and it wasn’t hard to share it.”

Heidi Feldman, co-founder of MV Sea Salt, brought some salt and also volunteered to help organize produce to give to the public.

“[Morning Glory is] at the forefront of collecting SNAP at the farmers’ market and they lead the way in terms of process to give back to the community, regardless of age and here they are willing to give away some of their produce,” Ms. Feldman said. “I found out about it through social media posts and I knew we had to jump on board in some way, shape or form.”

Although there are no current plans to host another market, Ms. Athearn wants to continue helping out wherever possible.

This was the second Free Farmers' Market held this season.

Ray Ewing

This was the second Free Farmers' Market held this season.

Ray Ewing

“We hope to be able to continue this kind of programming as needed,” she said. “At the store, we take SNAP and HIP. There’s some free items in the store as well for people that are on SNAP, so we’re doing that through the store and hope to continue that.”

Hosting this market felt like the most natural way to support the community, according to Ms. Athearn.

“How could we not do it?” she said. “We have this stuff and we have the ability to share it. We want to do that and support our community and be able to help out in this time of food need for everybody.”