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2007 Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Award Winner
Spotlight Profile
Community Food Initiatives is 1 of 10 Winners of the 2007 Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Awards.
Organizations selected as winners are judged outstanding for their innovative and
creative approaches to fighting domestic hunger and poverty by empowering people and building self-reliance. These
grassroots organizations in the United States
have moved beyond charity to creating change in their communities.
(see all Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Award Winners)
Community Food Initiatives
Contact: Ronda Clark
94 Columbus Road
Athens, OH 45701
Phone: 740-593-5971
Fax: 740-593-5451
Email: cfi@frognet.net
Website: http://www.communityfoodinitiatives.com
Focus Areas: Agriculture, Community Organizing, Nutrition, Animal Husbandry, Community Gardening, Family Farming, Seed Distribution, Sustainable Agriculture, Nutrition Education, Culinary Arts Training, At risk Youth, Children, Disabled, Working Poor, Youths
Mission: Community Food Initiatives (CFI) works in Athens County to promote self-sufficiency as it relates to basic food production, preservation, and preparation, rooting that work in community and the development of a strong local food system.
Background: CFI began as a project of the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (ACEnet) in 1992 and was incorporated as a separate non-profit in 1995. CFI was founded with the mission of assisting market gardeners and commercial food producers, and today it runs a variety of community programs including community gardens, community composting, seed saving and others.
Programs: The Athens Community Gardens program provides free plots and seeds in exchange for a 10% donation of each grower's harvest. This donation is then distributed to local low-income households who are unable to participate in the program or garden where they live.
CFI co-sponsors a community composting program which encourages local restaurants and food producers to compost specific vegetable wastes from their operations. The restaurants and producers bring their food waste to the CFI compost bins, and the resulting compost is then used by CFI as a source of earned income. In another program, volunteer expert gardeners, or "Gardening Angels," donate their time to teach others how to design a garden, till the soil, grow vegetables and flowers, harvest the vegetables that are grown, and compost their waste through education by presentations, workshops, and hands-on mentoring. Gardening increases community food security and awareness of food in our environment. CFI also sponsors a seed saving group which educates gardeners on seed preservation to help gardeners be self-sufficient.
Besides the seed saving group, every year CFI coordinates the distribution of free seeds and plants to nearly 300 low-income households in Athens County. With the help of many Athens County agencies, CFI provides educational materials and a selection of vegetable and flower seeds, seed potatoes, and tomato plants free of charge. Distribution of the free seeds and plants takes place in April through late May each year.
Finally, CFI’s Edible Schoolyard Program (ESP) works with the Trimble Local Schools to teach children how to garden so that they can learn how to be self sufficient in their food production. The program includes a vegetable garden outside the pre-school class, 10-15 raised beds and approximately 20 fruit trees at the high school, and 12 raised beds and community garden space at the elementary school where the pre-schoolers and elementary students learn about growing food, preparing it, and eating it. High schoolers will be connected to the local farmers’ market to both encourage them to sell produce and pursue agriculture as well as to organize and assist the market’s operation. There is no Ag program or 4H club for high schoolers, so CFI hopes to make this program a way for students to enter into agriculture.
11/2007
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