April 1, 2009
As world leaders gather in London for the Group of 20 summit meeting, the most wrenching statistic is this: According to World Bank estimates, the global economic crisis will cause an additional 22 children to die per hour, throughout all of 2009.
And that’s the best-case scenario. The World Bank says it’s possible the toll will be twice that: an additional 400,000 child deaths, or an extra child dying every 79 seconds.
“In London, Washington and Paris, people talk of bonuses or no bonuses,” Robert Zoellick, the World Bank president, said this week. “In parts of Africa, South Asia and Latin America, the struggle is for food or no food.”
Read Full Article Here]]>
Newsletter 2009]]>
In the past five years, the Farm-to-Table Program has built 14 raised beds and a 17' x 24' hoophouse at the high school and has turned an otherwise unused courtyard space at the elementary school into an outdoor classroom, complete with 4 raised beds, 24 portable grow boxes called Earthboxes, a pollinator garden, and a raingarden. We have plans to complete our raingarden this season, install rain barrels to use rainwater runoff from the school roof, build cold frames, and increase production on our 1 acre plot just 2 miles from the schools where we grow asparagus, apples, blackberries, and many annual crops such as watermelon, tomatoes, and pumpkins.
This program is not funded by school budget funds, which is why we are constantly looking for innovative ways to fund the program budget so that we can continue bringing your children hands-on learning experiences in sustainable agriculture and nutritional education.
Our program has received national recognition and is well known as a model for this type of program in Virginia. I have received calls from school systems in Prince William County, Fauquier County, Madison County, Orange County, Williamsburg City Schools, Harrisonburg City Schools, and other school systems who have learned about what we're doing and want to replicate it in their own school systems. Out of 38 entries, we are one of the 5 finalists in the K-12 category. If you will become a YouTube member (registration is free), it would be really helpful if you would rank the video highly (5 stars is the best rating) and add a comment to the video. The more public comments, the better! Farm-to-Table Program Intern Stephen Bradford did much of the filming and did all of the editing in the editing rooms at the University of Virginia where he is a fourth year student. However, students themselves used small cameras called flipcams during class to film skits about what real food meant to them. We used as many of these skits as we could in the three minute time limit for the contest entry.
This semester I am organizing a volunteer list of parents and community members who might want to help work in the gardens, harvest asparagus, help with our hoophouse production or hand out seasonal and local food samples during lunchtime as a part of our Farm to Cafeteria Seasonal and Local Foods Project. Please call or email Trista Scheuerlein if you would like to become a volunteer. It's lots of fun! Many hands make light work and more giggles.
Also of note: F2T was just awarded the 2009 Youth Garden Grants Program Award, sponsored by the National Gardening Association (NGA) and Home Depot. We were one of seventy schools nationwide who received a $500 gift card to Home Depot and educational resources from NGA.
For more information about the Farm-to-Table Program, to read our annual report, or to see our wish list of items, please visit our website:
http://www.headwatersfdn.org/Farm2Table/index.html
[Submitted by Alla]]]>
The Action Center to End World Hunger uses hunger as an organizing symbol of poverty, helping to explain and illustrate the challenges that lay behind it, such as poor agricultural practices, inefficient markets, weak health and education services, environmental degradation, conflict, and lack of access to clean water. By identifying and highlighting these underlying issues, the Action Center seeks to generate the public will necessary to end hunger in our lifetimes.
http://www.actioncenter.org/?location=footer]]>
Marc Cathey spent his entire life at the interface between gardening and education and he brought his personal style and unmatchable enthusiasm to our cause.
From our friends at the American Horticultural Society, we have learned that there will be a memorial service at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC at a later date. We will let people know as soon as details are available. Dr. Cathey’s ashes will be buried at National in the Columbarium.
Memorials may be sent to the American Horticultural Society, 7931 East Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, VA 22308, the Davidson College Presbyterian Church, or the Residence Assistance Fund at the Pines of Davidson.
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The crowd truly reflected TGC’s themes and activities, with chefs, IT specialists, members of the university and cooperative extension community, Master gardeners educators and policy-makers all in attendance. The evening was highlighted by thoughtful and passionate appeals to be involved with the project, and with solutions to hunger, particularly by John Dickman (Apple), Delaine Eastin (former Secretary of Education, California) and our guest of honor, Chef Rick Bayless.
Special thanks go out to John, Thom and Kristen, and their staff at ACME, for the wonderfully diverse and tasty meal (all local produce) we all enjoyed.
This event – the first of its kind for TGC – raised over $12,000 – through a “Sold Out” and an enormously successful Silent Auction. This is a terrifically useful amount of money for our low-cost operations, and goes far beyond our expectations!
The driving force behind the evening was TGC Board member, Rebecca Jepsen, who worked tirelessly to make this event a great success. Rebecca was ably seconded in her efforts by John Dickman who, like Rebecca, tapped into a deep Bay Area network of friends and associates, and assured that TGC made the best of a wonderful opportunity.
Slow Food Nation and San Fransisco Acme Chophouse]]>