Urban Farm to Serve Central Missouri Veterans
December 2, 2020
Written By Adam Buckallew
The Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture and Harry S. Truman Veterans’ Hospital have entered into a three-year agreement to use CCUA’s urban farm site at 1209 Smith St. in Columbia to develop a new community space for mid-Missouri veterans.
Beginning in the spring of 2020, the two organizations will work collaboratively on a pilot project to open the Mark and Carol Stevenson Veterans Urban Farm as CCUA moves its base of operations to Columbia’s Agriculture Park.
“The farm will continue with a new target audience — our country’s veterans,” says Bill Polansky, executive director of CCUA. “It will provide them with a vibrant space to learn about food, improve health and build community.”
Local veterans will operate the ready-made space to host a variety of health and therapeutic programs for other veterans in the area. The programs will assist with the development of job skills as well as promote healthy lifestyle habits and community building.
“Our mission is to honor our veterans by providing state-of-the-art care that improves their health and wellbeing,” says Patricia Hall, medical center director of the Truman Veterans’ Hospital.
“Community partnerships such as this are vital to our success. Truman VA isn’t just a Veterans hospital that happens to be in Columbia. We are part of this community, and we are very pleased and excited that CCUA and the Stevensons chose us to be stewards of this wonderful space.”
MFA Oil Company, along with Veterans Affairs and the Veterans United Foundation, has provided funding for the project.
“Our military veterans, men and women in uniform, and their families have sacrificed much to protect the freedoms we enjoy, and we are proud to support programs such as the Veterans Urban Farm,” says Jon Ihler, MFA Oil president and CEO.