Last year, from June to October, South Portland residents Jane and Carlton Cotton enjoyed what they consider a luxury – fresh fruits and vegetables. They’re hoping that this year they’ll be able to do the same. But there are no guarantees.

On the wait list for the Jordan farm adopt-a-senior program, the Cottons are depending on local generosity to support the program, which provides fresh produce to low-income seniors throughout the growing season.

Along with about 60 other seniors from Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough, South Portland and Portland, the Cottons reaped the benefits of the Cape Elizabeth Jordan farm “adopt-a-senior” program last year. An extension of the Maine Department of Agriculture Senior FarmShare Program, the adopt-a-senior program gives $100 credits to low-income seniors to shop at the Jordan farm stand.

The Jordans are asking local people and businesses to donate money to adopt a senior. For every $90 given, the farm will then kick in the additional $10 for a total $100 credit per senior at their farm stand.

Seniors then come to the farm stand and purchase whatever fresh fruits and veggies are available with their credit. This money lasts many seniors for the duration of the growing season if it’s well budgeted, said Jordan family farmer Penny Jordan, who started asking for local donations last year.

Jordan realized the local need outpaced the state funding when the 150 state funded slots filled up, but the phone kept ringing. With 60 people on the wait list for the program, Jordan set out on a mission to raise money. With one article in a local newspaper, word spread about the need and the money started pouring in.

After raising $7,400, every senior on the wait list was accepted into the program and provided with a fresh summer food source. With a surplus in the account, the Jordan farm also donated $2,500 worth of produce to the Food Cupboard, a South Portland food pantry serving more than 100 seniors per month.

Throughout the cold winter months, the Cottons eat mostly canned or frozen fruits and vegetables. Their shopping list includes precious few fresh fruits and veggies. Weekly, they buy a banana bunch, and sometimes, fresh carrots if Jane plans on making a stew, but rarely any fresh produce, unless there’s a good sale.

“If you knew what it meant to us to get fresh vegetables,” said Jane Cotton. “We can’t afford to buy them in the store.”

Just getting by

There are rarely extras slotted into the Cottons’ budget. The cost of home ownership – property taxes, insurance and heating oil – eats away the bulk of their budget. This winter, their late 1800s home devoured over 1,000 gallons of oil. Retired and only collecting social security for one, the Cottons live modestly in their South Portland home.

“We get by,” said Carlton Cotton when asked about his income source. “Just barely,” said Jane Cotton.

Qualifying seniors bring in an income below $18,139 (single) or $24,420 (married).

Two years ago, the Cottons signed up for the state FarmShare program at the local grocery store, but were low on the list and never made it to the top.

Debbie Everett, FarmShare coordinator with the state program, said this is common. The state program, in its sixth year, is paid by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but that grant covers only 10 percent of the 80,000 seniors who qualify for the program.

“It becomes a nightmare. There just isn’t enough to go around,” said Everett, who hears from anxious seniors daily who are on the wait list or participated last year but didn’t make it in this year.

When the Jordan farm ignited a wave of local donations last year, the Cottons received a call from the Jordan farm asking if they were still interested in participating. They gladly accepted.

Now that they’ve reaped the program’s rewards they are looking forward to corn straight off the cob, turnips, rhubarb and strawberries and are hoping local donations will get them off the wait list and on their way to the farm stand.

Showing they care

Some locals have already started raising money. The Dadmun daughters in Cape Elizabeth, Emma, 11 and Maggie, 6, with the help of their neighbors, raised $90 to adopt-a-senior.

“We thought it would be a good way to show we cared,” said Emma Dadmun, who helped sell chocolate chip cookies, Rice Krispie squares and lemonade at a neighbors yard sale to raise the $90 to help a local senior get farm fresh produce throughout the growing season. Dadmun hopes her efforts will “make a senior feel good, like people want to help them.”

Everett is now encouraging other local farmers to follow the Jordan Farm model, because she’s seen the benefits for seniors.

“This program just means so much to them,” she said.

For the Cottons, the program means they’ll enjoy fresh, nutrient rich foods on their table daily, instead of waiting for sales. Jane Cotton can whip up blueberry muffins, breads and cakes for herself, her husband and her three grandchildren to enjoy during their visits. And, if they’re frugal, they can freeze and store their surplus, stretching it out through part of the winter.

“I would miss it terribly,” said Jane Cotton, if she weren’t included in the program this year.

The Jordan farm is one of two farms out of 165 participating in the state program who independently raise additional money for seniors. Penny Jordan, who has a master’s in social work said she “stole” the idea from the other Maine farm raising additional money for seniors.

Carlton Cotton said he is appreciative of Jordan’s efforts. “She doesn’t do this because she has to, she does it because she’s a good person.”

Jordan is still receiving two to three calls per week from interested seniors. Now, she just needs to find the money to support them all. Until then though, she said she’ll “just keep putting them on the wait list.”

Jane and Carlton Cotton, of South Portland, are hoping the Jordan farm in Cape Elizabeth can raise enough money to provide themselves and 60 other seniors with $100 credits to shop at the Jordan farm stand throughout the summer. Penny Jordan works in the greenhouse at Jordan Farm in Cape Elizabeth. Many of the seedlings start in the greenhouse and are then transplanted outside once the weather turns warmer. Many of these herbs and vegetables will be sold at the Jordan farmstand where local seniors wil use donated credits to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.The Jordan farm stand through a state program and local donations provides fresh produce free to low-income seniors.Penny Jordan’s sister, Pam Butterfield transfers eggplant into individual grow cups.