February. Ugh. Despite being my birth month, I find February to be generally dreary, depressing, and dark. My visits to food justice organizations are also typically curtailed because everyone prefers to be seen in ‘peak’ season (and also-I’ll say it-I’m a wimp who doesn’t relish traveling to Detroit or Chicago in the dead of winter). Lucky for me, two terrific gatherings took place right in my backyard this year that gave me a glimpse into both Washington, DC’s and New York City’s sustainable and local food scenes, and I didn’t even have to set foot outdoors.

Juliette Tahar of Healthy Living, Inc. gives a Vegetarian Cooking Demonstration at Rooting DC

Rooting DC took place on February 18th and was sponsored by the Field to Fork Network, a loose conglomeration of organizations within the District of Columbia that works on improving the city’s food system. In its fifth year, this event was FREE (lunch was a nominal cost) and open to the public. The main focus of the workshops and sessions was home and urban gardening, but the day also included cooking demonstrations, discussions on food equity and classes specifically for kids. Held at a local high school, the gym was converted into an information fair with representatives from the city’s urban gardens, food pantries, environmental groups, and healthy cooking organizations stationed to provide information and recruit volunteers.

USDA's Merrigan speaks at the Just Food conference

The Just Food conference sold out well before it’s February 24th and 25th weekend began and with good reason. The 2-day gathering was packed with informative sessions, workshops and panels and cost just $30-$50 for a conference pass that included a Good Food Jobs Fair and a local food expo (read: Free Brooklyn Brewery beer). Just Food has existed since 1995 working to “connect communities and local farms with resources to ensure all New Yorkers can receive local food”and runs the gamut from CSA’s and Farmer’s Markets to community awareness campaigns and food education. They even conduct a farm school for urban agriculture! Perhaps my favorite role of Just Food is the alliances and partnerships they work to form as they go. The conference is a chance to convene around various topics from community organizing to emergency food systems to empowering food justice in underserved neighborhoods to fracking to farming to sustainable harvesting and cooking; this conference truly covered it all. The most difficult part of the weekend was wading through the plethora of workshop offerings to choose sessions to attend. The large group panels were no less compelling and included the USDA’s Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan discussing the newly unveiled “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” web hub and a group of four local farmers discussing the ins and out of running a successful operation. Other highlights were the “food talks” given by Tanya Fields of The BLK Project (she honestly brought down the house), Joan Gussow (still inspiring at age 80+ !), Garrett Oliver (brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery) and George Weld (founder of local food restaurant Egg). This conference also sported the best inclusive lunch I have ever had the pleasure of gobbling up with 1,000+ of my food activist friends.

Just Food Farmer Panel (from l to r): Chris Kaplan-Walbrecht of Garden of Eve Farm, Yonnette Fleming of Hattie Carthan Community Garden, Ana I. Rodriguez Angel of Angel Family Farm and John Schmid of Muddy River Farm

Conferences such as Rooting DC and Just Food 2012 do so much more than inform and teach. They inspire and connect those on the ground, giving them the resources and support to persevere. Through unity and concerted effort, we CAN make a difference in establishing a more just, local and sustainable food system!

To learn more about Rooting DC and the DC Field to Fork Network, visit here.

To learn more about Just Food in NYC, visit here. (Also, check out their “Day in the Life” auction before March 11 to bid on a chance to spend the day with your food hero! All proceeds benefit the great work of Just Food.)

To read more about the Food Fighters tour, follow @FoodFightersUS on twitter, like us on Facebook or visit the FF blog here.

The Food Fighters series is made up of M@M’s journeys across the U.S. and in her home city of Washington, D.C., journeys through which she is visiting as many organizations that work on issues related to food equity and justice as she possibly can.  She is seeking to examine places that focus on food production, distribution, and nutritional/cooking education, particularly within lower-income populations. Food Fighters will highlight both individual organizations and the local food systems as a whole within cities across America.  This is the fifth piece in the series.

In my food journeys across the U.S., I’ve had a few visits that have given me that “Ah-HA!” moment. Meetings where a visionary individual or organization expressed something in a way that crystallized a viewpoint for me and made me rethink the model for sustainable and accessible food. J.D. Kemp and Darnell Adams of Crop Circle Kitchen in Boston, Nic Esposito in Philadelphia, and the subject of this article, Kevin Pierce and Ken Dunn of The Resource Center, are some of the folks who challenged my traditional notions of what it means to feed a community.

Ken Dunn founded The Resource Center in 1971 around the idea that every problem is a resource. Initially, the organization began because Mr. Dunn noticed many bottles and cans on Chicago streets. He also saw a homeless community that could use work. He put these two things together in a way that solved one problem (trash on the streets) and provided a resource for the other (a source of income for a population in need). The Resource Center has grown from this humble beginning into a non-profit that makes use of possible wasted resources as a tool for addressing another issue. A major hotel is revamping and changing its logo? BAM…its old towels and plates are collected and donated to shelters where they can be used. Restaurants stuck with huge amounts of unconsumed food? POOF…A Resource Center van transports the food to a local food bank. And an empty lot marring a neighborhood corner? Well, it’s turned into City Farm. The Resource Center doesn’t just aim for “sustainable” in its projects, it aims for abundance (and very little waste!).

City Farm is certainly abundant. On every square inch of this acre lot, gorgeous produce thrives. It’s easy to forget it sits on a busy Chicago corner when sunflowers stretch up over the fence, and only by craning one’s neck upwards can you see the Chicago skyline. Bees hum in hives in one corner diagonally placed across from a bright red chicken roost. In the center of the lot sit several hoop houses responsible for producing most of the hot peppers which Rick Bayless makes use of in his many Chicago restaurants. By employing individuals that often have difficultly finding work, donating some food to neighborhoods lacking it, and selling some produce at a farm stand, City Farm supports the community. As a source of revenue, they also use much of their land to grow for local chefs and restaurants who pay a premium for their sparklingly pristine produce.

Each September, City Farm hosts an Urban Harvest event that draws community from Lincoln Park and other surrounding neighborhoods, featuring live music and laying out a delicious array of foods from local chefs. This past year, I was lucky enough to attend. As I sat on a bale of hay, munching a fresh beet salad and listening to the strum of a guitar while children pranced happily to the melody, I could have been in any small town in America. Instead, I was in a huge urban metropolis surrounded by strangers.  Thanks to City Farm and The Resource Center’s ideal of providing abundance through jobs, innovations, recycling, and community, I felt surprisingly close to home.

To learn more about The Resource Center and all they do, please visit their website here.

To read more about the Food Fighters tour, follow @FoodFightersUS on twitter, like us on Facebook or visit the FF blog here.

Is there something so much a part of your life that you can’t quite remember how it even came to be? That’s the way I feel about FreshFarm Markets, an organization that operates 11 farmer’s markets throughout the DC region. I certainly remember stopping in at their Dupont Circle market, the founding and largest of all their markets established in 1997 (as one of the directors likes to say, “before people even knew they wanted local produce”), early on in its existence. And I can remember various opportunities when I volunteered to help out at special events. Still, there’s not one moment I remember about how I became intertwined with them or a particular thought I had when I knew I wanted to become involved with their endeavors. FreshFarm just seems to be a part of me now, a given in my life, something that just is and naturally should be. 

If you’ve read my series, Melissa@Market, you know I regularly do demonstrations at various FreshFarm Markets showing people how to utilize the fresh produce sold there. In addition, I also volunteer with numerous projects they run periodically. That’s what I really love about FreshFarm. It wasn’t enough for their founders, Ann Yonkers and Bernie Prince, to support local farmers and give people access to fresh, local foods by setting up markets all over the city which sell only producer-based goods (meaning farmers can only sell what they grow, not resell others’ produce). In addition to this, they have continued to grow their outreach projects trying to encompass more populations with nourishing, farm fresh food.

In addition to serving over 360,000 shoppers a year and supporting over 150 local farmers, FreshFarm has also initiated these community programs over the years.

picture courtesy of Jennifer Mampara

 FOODPRINTS

FoodPrints is a school curriculum and garden program started by FreshFarm in 2005. Originally piloted at 6 DC Public Schools in 2005, the program has been refined each year. In its current form, the FoodPrints curriculum addresses Core Curriculum standards while teaching children about fresh, healthy food. This year, Watkins Elementary School in Southeast DC was able to add a teaching kitchen to their school garden and FoodPrints program by way of a Kickstarter campaign that helped FreshFarm raise $60,000. This kitchen is used by 3rd and 4th graders to turn the food they grow into nutritious dishes they can enjoy. FreshFarm hopes the FoodPrint curriculum and garden/teaching kitchen model can be implemented in more DC Public Schools soon.

DOUBLE DOLLARS, SNAP and other Nutritional Assistance Programs

Each year, FreshFarm has expanded the number of markets with the capacity to use EBT machines to process SNAP (food stamps) dollars as well as WIC and the Senior Supplemental Assistance programs. Six of their markets now have the capacity to accept those shoppers relying on federal assistance dollars and help them purchase healthier foods. In addition, FreshFarm conducts a yearly campaign with its supporters called “Double Dollars” to raise enough money to match those federal funds, so that SNAP shoppers can spend twice as much on produce at the market.

GLEANING AND FOOD DRIVES

Finally, FreshFarm coordinates with market farmers and various local non-profit soup kitchens and food banks to “glean” (collect) leftover produce after market closing. This year, multiple markets also participated in a one-day, Thanksgiving food drive that collected monetary and food donations from the community to benefit local hunger organizations. As of this writing, 4 of the participating markets had collected a total of about $4000 in food and monetary donations to be used to feed those in need for the holidays.

To learn more about FreshFarm Markets and all they do, please visit their website here.  Please feel free to share how your local farmer’s markets are effecting your community in the comment section below!

To read more about the Food Fighters tour, follow @FoodFightersUS on twitter, like us on Facebook or visit the FF blog here.

I’m approaching restraining order status in my infatuation with the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based non-profit, Philabundance. Besides tweeting about them multiple times a week (and, yeah, I’m not counting retweets), composing blog posts waxing poetic (at least in my mind) about their creative projects, emailing their employees (Hi, Kelly!! Why haven’t you written me back?!) and visiting their events and conferences whenever I possibly can, I couldn’t resist making this month’s Food Fighters entry on them, too. Let’s just say the folks over there are probably glad I don’t actually live in Philly.

Before you slap me with a label like, um, stalker, hear me out. I think you’ll find that Philadundance is worth crushing on, and you might just be marking your calendar for their next Hunger Symposium event. (Or at least following them on Twitter. @Philabundance)

Philabundance had its beginnings in emergency food distribution in 1984 and became a more encompassing hunger relief agency when it integrated with the Philadelphia Food Bank in 2005. Its direct service programs now include over 500 member agencies serving areas that sprawl into New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Creativity and adaptability are hallmarks of the Philabundance programs. They are constantly innovating and changing to meet the needs of the community. Programs like Fresh for All consistently distribute fresh produce to low income areas at 12 different sites.  The Philabundance Community Kitchen teaches a culinary trade to those in need of a job while simultaneously feeding meals to those who are hungry.  Grocers Against Hunger supplies the missing link to keep perishable foods from going to waste in stores and distributes them instead for emergency food relief. I could go on, but well…

Just over a month ago on September 22, 2011, the opportunity arose (as in, I read every press release on Philabundance so I heard about it early and immediately signed up) to attend the first ever Hunger Symposium sponsored by the organization (video link). Let me tell you, this half-day event was one of *the* best conferences (ok, ok, it was THE best), I have ever attended. Panels ran on time. Speakers were articulate and well-prepared. And the hospitality and genuine friendliness I have come to expect from Philabundance (seriously, these are some incredibly positive people) was, well, abundant. Despite the seriousness of the topic, the day felt uplifting, inspiring and full of hope.

You can order both these creatively cool T-Shirts from the Philabundance website.

Since I filled 25 pages in my journal with (teeny, tiny, hand-scripted) notes, I think it’s best to just hit the highlights and provide you with a few links.

• The morning began with a brief recap of a handful of Philadelphia anti-hunger programs in a taped segment by Mayor Nutter including the Philly Food Bucks program, Corner Store initiative, extended meal programs for children and grocery store expansions.
• Panel One was entitled “The Effects of Poverty and the Increase in Need” and included panelists from higher education, non-profits and government. This group discussed SNAP benefits, the need to help people gain some sense of self-sufficiency (as opposed to just taking handouts) and most importantly, how food insecurity does not happen in a vacuum but instead is entwined with poverty and impacts other basic needs. It was stressed that addressing poverty is essential to solving food insecurity. The working poor are a huge group whose need for SNAP and assistance has increased in recent years. The panelists also poignantly mentioned that deep and persistent poverty received very little attention until more people in the country were affected by the recession. Societal neglect of this population is a huge problem in fighting this type of poverty. Several panelists also pointed out some common myths about SNAP recipients (mainly, dispelling the idea that SNAP is abused and highlighting that usage of SNAP dollars can actually benefit the economy). Potent statistics also included:
• 40% of children living with a single mother are food insecure.
• 25% of those in minority groups are food insecure with Latinos seeing the biggest spike in the recession.
• It takes $54K/year for a family with 2 children to be self-sufficient in Philadelphia (i.e., able to meet basic needs without assistance).
• 700,000 people qualified for SNAP in PA in 2001. In 2011, that number was 1.7 million (yes, you read that right).
• $2.5 billion was issued in SNAP benefits last year in PA.

The session concluded with emphasis that people who know hunger/poverty (meaning, they’ve lived it) need to be at the table. These are the individuals that should be more involved in public life and solving the problems of poverty.

• The second presentation was the announcement of a new (fantastic!) Philabundance program. The organization will be opening a not-for-profit retail shopping experience (essentially, a grocery store) in the 4th hungriest congressional district in the U.S., Chester, PA (where the food insecurity rate is 44.5%). The store will provide a variety of food staples in a combination of low-cost and free items. People from the community will be hired for jobs. SNAP can be used. Groceries will be priced to cover costs but not make a profit. Self-sufficiency through choice is a hallmark of the project as well as helping people to learn how to shop cost efficiently. Philabundance hopes this can serve as a new model for combining non-profit food banking with grocery store services.
• A special presentation was made by Mari Gallagher on her work studying food deserts across the country. Her comprehensive look at everything from where SNAP dollars are used in many neighborhoods (gas stations, dollar stores and liquor stores are often the most available venues) to biased marketing to comparing driver’s license data on BMI with food availability and checking for correlations was fascinating.
• After lunch, a panel convened on “Strategically Addressing Food Access in PA”. Representatives from The Food Trust, Philabundance, The Reinvestment Fund and Feeding America addressed ways to partner with other organizations and the government to fund and run hunger relief programs.
• The day concluded with a rousing and inspiring speech by Joel Berg of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger. Berg emphasized that history shows when Americans decide something is unacceptable (slavery, child labor), they can be successful in eradicating it. His analogy regarding government cuts on poverty programs was that police haven’t wiped out crime, but we don’t say “well, let’s eliminate them completely then”- why would we do this for poverty programs? Americans have to keep fighting and raising hell that citizens starving and dying from malnutrition is not acceptable. The problem is solvable if we don’t give up.

Even spending 6 hours in the Philadelphia airport trying to get to Chicago afterwards couldn’t dampen my glow and excitement about the future of the anti-hunger movement. People working to end hunger and malnutrition are my people. People who do it with spirit, kindness and positivity…well, those people are soul mates.

Oh, and Philabundance, I’ll be watching. (In a non-creepy, totally legal sort of way.)

Learn more about Philabundance or order some of their cute T-shirts, here.

To read more about the Food Fighters tour, follow @FoodFightersUS on twitter, like us on Facebook or visit the FF blog here.

Hellbent on arriving on time to my destination, I tried speaking the address into my cell phone for a third time. “Turn left on Massachusetts Ave.,” the polite, mechanical voice intoned to me once again. “I CAN’T TURN ANYWHERE!!” I screamed back at her, “I’M IN A TUNNEL!!” Gripping the wheel of my toy-sized rental car, I craned my neck around another bend desperate for an exit.

Nothing. My first official “road” stop on the Food Fighters tour was not off to an auspicious beginning.

$5.75 in tolls and 35 minutes later, I finally resurfaced and found myself at an exit where I could (sort-of, illegally, after three U-turns and a hard left) turn around. Pulling into a parking lot, I reentered the address to Beverly, Massachusetts in my Google map. Turns out, I was going to have to entirely backtrack (ah! Back to the Boston Leviathan!) and had added about 20 minutes to my already rather lengthy commute. I couldn’t afford to make any more mistakes and still make it on time.

And perhaps I should mention, this was during the 100+ degree heatwave in the NorthEast. Sweat had been trickling down my back and pooling in my waistband before I ever left the rental car office. Despite blasting a/c, I was soaked. My linen pants felt like swim trunks.

It was in this agitated condition that I rolled up to the bucolic setting of the Trustees of Reservation (with whom The Food Project shares their land). The fields of bright green with bursts of multi-hued flowers and leafy produce dotting the back fields, chickens and guinea hens poking around the grounds, and a historic yellow farmhouse and schoolhouse red barn sitting smack in the center of the property made me drive past on the first go round. The scene was out of a painting.

Following the explicit directions from their website, I snaked along a winding trail through the historic property and sure enough, a voluminous tent with a Food Project banner welcomed me to the site. A group of young women milled around underneath it, and as I approached, one asked, “Can I help you?” I explained who I was meeting, and she efficiently took over. “He’s not here yet, but I can introduce you to the farm director, show you around and answer some questions.” Ok. That sounded good. I started to breathe again.

It was only later that I would discover that this helpful, articulate young woman was actually a high school student and a Food Project Intern. The Food Project’s t-shirts read “Youth Food Community” and each tenet resonates with the organization. In existence in the Boston area for over 20 years, they have a three prong goal of youth development through leadership training, public speaking and allotted responsibilities; food education and access through exposure to fresh produce and involvement in its cultivation and consumption; and community involvement through both interaction with a diverse group of youth culled from many different demographics of the Boston area and through outreach to other communities to reteach what participants have learned.

Food Project applicants typically hear about the program at school or through current participants. Those interested apply for a competitive (and paid) summer program that will have them working in fields, trying new foods and exposing themselves to new situations. If students do well in the summer program, they can then apply for an academic year spot. The focus in this stage is on strengthening public speaking skills and providing leadership opportunities through such activities as leading weekend volunteers in farm work and practicing delegation.  Finally, the most motivated can make it to “intern” stage where they will do outreach in the community- via nutrition classes at youth organizations or distributing CSA shares – on fresh produce and farming.

The event I was invited to attend was an annual update for current and potential donors, board members and the communities where the Food Project farms are located (there are 9 Food Project farms and garden plots). For the luncheon, the students who work the farm typically meet with a local chef and help create a menu based on the produce they have grown. The lunch is served family-style with tables mixed with adult farmers, student workers, donors and board members. As the meal wraps up, several Food Project interns speak about what the organization means to them. Two young women and one young man spoke, without notes or even a table, at my luncheon in a more articulate fashion than many political figures I have heard. It was quite powerful and clear evidence that the leadership portion of the Project is successful. Afterwards, the other summer interns in attendance fielded questions from the audience about their experiences on the farm and with food. The diversity in demographics of participants was readily apparent, yet the one thing they all had in common was the ability to speak extemporaneously and on point about the message of The Food Project.

After my highway adventure, outdoor lunch in smoldering temperatures and walking tour of the grounds, did I head back to my hotel in the city stinking and exhausted? I sure did.  But, I also went home thoroughly impressed.

I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d had one of the authoritative youth of the Food Project directing me (instead of that silly Google maps woman) I would ever have been lost in the first place. With the confidence and leadership I saw, the answer seemed to clearly be “no”.

To learn more about The Food Project and their work throughout the greater Boston area, please click here.

To read more about the Food Fighters tour, follow FoodFightersUS on twitter, like us on Facebook or visit the FF blog here.

This is the first article in our “Food Fighters” series.  M@M is now officially traveling across the U.S., and her home city of Washington, D.C., visiting as many organizations that work on issues related to food equity and justice as she possibly can.  She is seeking to examine places that focus on production of food, distribution of product and nutritional/cooking education surrounding that produce, particularly to low income populations.  Food Fighters’ features will highlight both individual organizations as well as looking at the local food systems as a whole within cities across America.  

Common Good City Farm is located in the LeDroit Park area of Washington, DC.  Although it encompasses all three areas of production, distribution and education to a certain extent, the Farm’s chief innovation is its large urban garden.

Before I left for my visit to the urban oasis that is Common Good City Farm, I took a last look at my desiccated basil plant, the 3rd one I’ve successfully killed in the past 2 months.  I’d heard rumors of the abundance of plant life that exists on what was once the baseball field of a long since abandoned elementary school and wanted to imprint on my brain the difficulties of keeping just one edible plant alive, let alone many on a lot once composed of dirt and concrete.

A view of the neighbors nestled around the Farm.

Common Good City Farm was established in 2007 as the 7th St. Garden associated with fellow DC outreach organization, Bread for the City.  In Fall of 2008, a permanent home was located in LeDroit Park where the garden now takes up 1/2 acre of land with the mission of growing food, educating and helping low-income DC community members meet their food needs.

I seriously cannot stop swooning over this peach tree in the middle of urban DC!

Common Good City Farm grows over 60 edible plants, including such urban novelties as a peach tree (and yes, many thriving basil plants)! The farm produced over 2000 lbs of produce last year with a goal of reaching over 3000 lbs this year. Besides being highly productive, they aim to be eco-conscious. They have a compost center where DC residents can bring their food waste and give it new life as fertilizer for the farm.  The farm also aims to employ permaculture methods and their shade pavilion on the grounds actually serves to aid in the collection of rain water to irrigate the Farm and to serve as a DDOE funded rain garden.

Compost Center

The Farm has only 2 full-time staff members. (I know!  Hard to believe!  But, they have many fabulous volunteers and a few part-time staff.) An Executive Director deals with responsibilities such as fundraising and overall management of the organization, and the Farm Manager is responsible for production and maintenance of the Farm.  The addition of a Program Fellow to the staff this year hopes to increase the amount of outreach to community members and recruit more participants in the farm’s activities as well as direct produce to those who need it most.

The Farm Manager is responsible for keeping plants, like those in this amazing herb garden, healthy and thriving.

The Program Fellow is helping to grow the Green Tomorrows program-a program aimed at reaching those below a certain income level. For 2 hours of farm work a week, an individual or family in the Green Tomorrows Program can take home an entire box of mixed produce.  Educational programs on boosting the immune system with diet, eating from the rainbow (variety in fruits and vegetable consumption), and home gardening techniques have also been introduced to teach patrons how to use produce in their home kitchen.  The Farm also receives many visitors for tours and hands-on learning and farm related lessons, at least one school group and one volunteer group per week.

A tour group listens as a volunteer guides them through the Farm. It's amazing to find all the plant life tucked into every crevice of the grounds.

In the future, with adequate funding, Common Good City Farm would like to construct hoop houses to grow food through the winter and provide produce year-round to residents.  As funding increases, Common Good City Farm will continue to strengthen and expand their outreach and educational programs. The biggest challenge for the Farm thus far has been reaching out to its intended audience.  Because the Green Tomorrows program is still growing for individual families, most of their abundant produce is donated to other DC hunger relief organizations, such as Bread for the City, to distribute. Greater funding is a huge need, so that Common Good City Farm can continue to hire additional full-time staff to expand its educational and communication components.

A view of the front of the garden with the structure on the left serving as both rainwater collector and a place for gatherings and classes/sun relief.

Common Good City Farm is an outstanding example of what can be (and is being) done in many urban areas with vacant lots.  Land that once sat empty, ugly and forlorn now thrives with plant life and nourishing food.  Although their distribution and education programs are still growing, the Farm’s initiative at turning unused land into something productive and life-giving is the first step in a bright future.

Hand-painted signs like this one label plots amidst the garden and remind visitors of what's good for them.

Interested in contributing to Common Good City Farm or just stopping by to learn more about urban gardening near your own home?  Learn more here.

For more in-depth coverage of M@M’s journeys and visits, visit the Food Fighters blog.  Or email her suggestions for possible tour stops at foodfightersoftheusa@gmail.com.

The spread of inexpensive, healthy produce-based foods in one of my classes.

Outside of writing for Zomppa and, um, eating, my passion is helping anyone, regardless of neighborhood/income/background, eat a healthier, more produce-based diet.  Right now, I partner with non-profits and organizations such as healthcare centers for under/un- insured patients, continuing education facilities helping people complete a high school degree or learn life skills, youth centers that work with young parents and at risk teens, and schools high in free/reduced lunch populations.  I also do demonstrations at local farmer’s markets that accept federal assistance dollars showing people how to easily prepare vegetables that they may not have previously had the opportunity to purchase.  For many of my clients, LIFE hurts, and I believe it’s fresh, healthy food that can heal.

A plethora of Strawberry Salad with Cheese Cracker salads at a local elementary school demo.

After spending a year partnering with organizations that have their own grants or donating my time as I can, I have seen the literal HUNGER in many of the places I work to learn more about diet and health.  I have also seen the dire lack of access or funds to purchase the foods that help fuel and feed the body well.  I wish classes like these could be taught everywhere, but it’s often hard to fund the need.  Zomppa shares my commitment to allowing all people equitable access to fresh food and, together, we are launching an exciting new project to find out about how people across the country are working to address food equity issues.

Set-up for a frittata demo at the Farmer's Market.

Beginning this summer, I will embark on a vision quest, of sorts.  Over the next six months, I will be traveling around the United States visiting food non-profits – specifically, groups that are working to increase access to and knowledge of fresh,healthy foods for low-income populations.  From community gardens to cooking/nutrition classes to community kitchens to farmer’s markets to schools, I will be visiting organizations that are implementing various programs to bring food justice to all populations and neighborhoods.  This will not only help us hone a vision for a non-profit, but also allow me to gather methods and techniques that I can use and share with other like-minded individuals.  I will be documenting the trip as I go.

Some larger cities like Philly, Chicago, NYC and Boston, I will be traveling to individually through the summer/early fall.  For the rest of the places I visit, I will be taking a cross-country (and back) road trip of 6-8 weeks in October/November.  (To make things even more interesting, I’ll be trekking with my sidekick, LolaDog.)  As I travel, I will be writing for Zomppa about my stops, the journey and the inspiring people (and canines) I meet.

Lola Dog- always ready to head into the unknown.

I would love your help:

• If you know of any organizations working to increase food access or food knowledge in low-income/impoverished areas in your area, shout them out to me.  I am planning my itinerary and looking for places to add around the country.
• If you have contacts that might be able to help set up meetings/visits to these places that’s very helpful, too!
• If you hear a report in your newspaper, NPR, while eavesdropping on a coworker…wherever….on a non-profit that sounds promising, send the link my way!

You can reach me via the comments or by emailing FoodFightersoftheUSA@gmail.com or by “liking” the Food Fighters of the USA page on Facebook.

“Whatever you do or dream, begin it.  Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe