The Food Project: Youth. Food. Community.

scenes from the Secretary's visitPresident Obama’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, stopped by our West Cottage Farm in Dorchester the other week! She took a tour of TFP’s urban agricultural oasis and visited with 35 of our teens working on the farm. The event highlighted our work under a recent grant from the Boston Public Health Commission and the Centers for Disease Control. We were held up as a national model for obesity prevention in low- income neighborhoods.

The local media did a great job of covering the Secretary’s visit. The Boston Globe captured the mood of the special morning. Check out their article and video, which include the Secretary’s comments, as well as the experiences of some of our youth.

The photos

1. Secretary Sebelius looks on and listens intently as Food Project interns Valerie and Phil speak about their work.

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I asked TFP Institute Trainer Greg Gale for his thoughts on why people might want to register for our Summer Institute, and he passed on the following:

participationThe time is ripe for young people and their adult allies to step up and change the food reality in this country. Come learn how to build partnerships with youth that help them tap into their potential as change agents.

Lots of adults know they want to farm with youth, but how to do this well requires a lot of skill and technique. Come learn from The Food Project’s 19 years of practice. You will see that we depend upon both inspiration and perspiration to create a diverse, vibrant, energetic, skilled, and thoughtful community of youth and adults who grow and distribute an amazing abundance of food.

Our annual Winter Institute came and went last week. Following is Institute organizer Greg Gale's summary. If you were interested but couldn't make it this winter, it's not too early to start thinking about attending the Summer Institute, coming up August 4th - 6th.

13 eager souls participated in this year's Winter Institute. They came from as close as Boston and as far away as NJ, NYC, VT, and ME. Most of them are running existing programs and some were getting ready to start new ones. All of them shared a deep passion for engaging youth in sustainable food systems work.

Their favorite part, imagine, was being with TFP teens talking, building raised bed containers, sorting seeds and doing a social justice workshop that required them to scramble across the floor grabbing candy in the ‘Scramble for Wealth and Power’. In between these experiential moments, we did some powerful reflection and learning about the theory and practice that drives TFP work.

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As is true for so many in the Boston area, The Food Project's community has numerous ties to Haiti. We've been in touch with a number of our community members. Some have been lucky enough to talk to their friends and families in Haiti and know they're OK. Others are still waiting to hear news of the people they know.

If you'd like to help support those actively providing relief to the earthquake victims, Food First's giving guide is the best we've seen.

Register now for...

The Food Project Institute

Winter Institute - February 4-6, 2010

Lincoln and Boston, MA

Download Registration Form (PDF)
Many people come to The Food Project during the summer and are inspired by the well-orchestrated symphony of activities - with beautiful, healthy food, and highly motivated, diverse teens working with passion towards a common mission. It seems to flow effortlessly.

The truth is….our summers are the complementary outcome of the other half of the year when we run vibrant youth programs such as the Academic Year Program and the Internship Program and plan for the next summer.

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It is with great sadness that The Food Project shares the loss of a member of our community, Henry Masters.

As Henry's family writes:

"The thread that runs through Henry’s life—his leadership, purpose, mentoring, and capacity to effect change—is perhaps best expressed through his ten-year relationship with The Food Project, an organization fostering personal and social change through sustainable agriculture. Henry started there at age 14 as a crew member, rising through the ranks of summer positions to Crew Leader, Roxbury Site Supervisor, and later, between college and graduate school, a year full-time as Youth Programs Coordinator, building programming and curricula that ensured a level playing field for young participants from all backgrounds in the Boston metropolitan area. The Food Project embodied Henry’s hopes and dreams for society, not to mention his enjoyment of good food—grown well, harvested and cooked lovingly, and distributed to those for whom a healthy diet was economically challenging. It was a practical way to accomplish change and see growth of both food and youth."

There are so many wonderful stories and memories to be shared about Henry. Please join us in sharing your story by sending it to rememberinghenry@me.com. These stories as well as photos and poems about him can be viewed by visiting his memorial website at www.rememberinghenry.com.

Please join The Food Project, along with all of Henry's family and friends, for a memorial service to remember Henry and celebrate his life. The service will be held at 2 p.m. on December 12th, at the Arlington Street Church, in Boston. The church is located at 351 Boylston St., right on the corner of Arlington and Boylston streets. It is directly across from the Boston Public Garden.
 

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Last week the front page of the Boston Globe featured Boston Mayor
Thomas Menino checking out one of our Build-a-Garden raised beds at
the Thomas Edison School in Brighton! If you want to take part in the
program this year, just send in an application.

Globe Cover

On Thursday, November 19th, The Living Room will be going “All-In” for a good cause! The waterfront restaurant, bar, and lounge will be partnering with Boston Charity Poker to host a charity poker tournament benefiting The Food Project.

The Living Room’s back dining room will be transformed into a five-table casino room for the Texas Hold’em Style Poker Tournament. Players will place their best bets to reach the final table, giving them a chance to win Celtics Tickets, Bruins and Red Sox Memorabilia, and hundreds of dollars in gift certificates.

Tickets are $100, and can be purchased on location at The Living Room or
by phone at (617) 723-5101. This event is limited to 50 players.

The tournament will begin at 7pm, and last until all the cards have been laid on the table. Players will enjoy cocktail service and free passed appetizers, provided by The Living Room.

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The Food Project has had a lot of exciting visitors over the last few months and our youth have been the hosts for so many of them. As our season winds down and our last groups of volunteers visit the farm, it's exciting to show how much we can accomplish in just one day in the fields.

Please take a few minutes to watch this inspiring new video and think about the impact that a whole season at The Food Project has on our local food system and how you can be a part of it. Anna Lappé offers a great introduction, and this year's D.I.R.T. crew really shines.

Practical Guide to Healthier Living - MSN.com

Lincoln Land We're now hiring two positions for the 2010 growing season, and an exciting year-round position.  

Both of the seasonal positions are for Grower's Assistants on our Lincoln land, and one of the positions will also involve supervising TFP interns.

Our other opening is for the Director of our North Shore site.

For more details on the positions and how to apply, see our Work Here page.