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What's Growin' On at Food Gatherers?

We're thinking big!

Food Gatherers is pleased to be a recipient of the Pfizer/Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation Big Idea Grant. The grant will fund a handful of collaborative initiatives to grow more healthy food for low income people.

Partners include Avalon Housing, Project Grow Community Gardens, Growing Hope, Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, and Washtenaw County Public Health.

In our recent Food Security Report, funded by the United Way of Washtenaw County, The Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation and the Knight Foundation, we found that cost (not preference, not access) is the single biggest barrier to healthy eating.

Our big idea is to create a smart, fast and sustainable way to significantly and sustainably increase low income people's access to locally grown, healthy food.

The Gathering Farm

Alex Bloom - our favorite volunteer - points to our first truckload of compost being delivered for the Gathering Farm on April 17

To contribute to our goal of increasing our supply of healthy produce for low-income people, we've broken ground on our new "Gathering Farm".

Food Gatherers' current method of food procurement is completely reliant on unpredictable donations and relatively costly purchases. Producing a portion of our own food will enable us to be a more reliable and consistent donor of healthy food to our nonprofit partners throughout Washtenaw County.

A carefully selected array of vegetables will be chosen to meet the nutritional needs of our clients and ensure high yields. We will also be preserving a sizable portion of the food in our Community Kitchen for distribution during the fall and winter months.

Please take a look at our Gathering Farm Wish List

Farmer Dan getting the soil ready for the seedlings - and our first direct-sown sprout!

A special "thanks" to the University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens for providing greenhouse space for our tender seedlings!

Faith and Food

Faith and Food is a collaboration between Food Gatherers, Growing Hope and The Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice.

Through this initiative, we will be working with congregations in Washtenaw County who want to grow produce for Food Gatherers to distribute to those in need. In our first year, we hope to work with at least six congregations to create or expand current gardens which will grow specific items that are needed most. We seek to transform the current system of produce donation from "random acts of gardening" to planned, targeted growth and timely harvesting of fruits and vegetables to be used for distribution.

Edible Avalon

Edible Avalon is a collaboration between Food Gatherers, Project Grow and Avalon Housing.

Avalon Housing provides supportive housing to 500 people who often rely on Food Gatherers' sponsored hot meals and pantries. To increase the amount of healthy produce available to Avalon residents, Project Grow will pilot a supportive gardening model on five Avalon Housing sites where folks are encouraged and provided with technical support to grow their own vegetables for consumption.

"Edible Avalon" community gardens will provide low income, urban apartment-dwellers with the opportunity to grow and eat fresh, local, organic food at their homes, learn valuable skills, interact more with the surrounding community, and become empowered through increased self-sufficiency.

Prescription Health

This is an expansion of a succesful pilot begun last year by Washtenaw County Public Health to encourage healthy eating and access to the Downtown Ypsilanti Farmer's Market.

Previously, the program partnered with health clinics to "prescribe" fruits and vegetables through tokens redeemable only at the market. This particular Farmer's Market, managed by Growing Hope, also accepts Food Stamps, Project Fresh and Senior Project Fresh. Our analysis of the Food Security Study found alarmingly high rates of food insecurity, especially among families with children. Our funding will provide additional tokens to more families in our community.

Plant a Row for the Hungry

Nationally sponsored by the Garden Writers' Association, Plant-A-Row encourages gardeners to grow a little extra to donate to food banks.

Food Gatherers and their partners invite gardeners and farmers to join the annual campaign to alleviate hunger in our community.

Here's how you can help:

• Pledge now to Plant-A-Row. Encourage your friends, neighbors and congregations to do the same!

  If you don't have space to garden, contact Growing Hope (www.growinghope.net) in Ypsilanti, or Project Grow Community Gardens (www.projectgrowgardens.org) in Ann Arbor for information on available garden plots.

• Get your hands in the soil and start growing...

• Drop off your donations and fight hunger where we live!

  Food Gatherers' Warehouse- M-F 9am-5pm (directions)

  English Gardens Store - 155 N. Maple Road, Ann Arbor (Mon-Sat 9am-9pm, Sun 9am-6pm)

Donations of freshly picked fruits, vegetables and herbs are welcome. The fresher the better!

Download a pdf about Plant-A-Row! Feel free to post it wherever gardners may tread!

Plant-A-Row for the Hungry 2009 (pdf)

For more information, contact us!

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