Harvest Dinner Benefits Capuchin Soup Kitchen

People who purchase tickets for Detroit's Earthworks Urban Farm's Harvest Dinner will be doing more than supporting just another feeding program for families in need.

They will be backing what many urban farm activists describe as a "food revolution."

The Harvest Dinner begins at 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 11, at Gleaners Food Bank, 2131 Beaufait. A social hour and various presentations will precede a gourmet barbecue dinner with food items from local farms and led by local chefs from the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit Evolution and Jones Urban Foods.

Reservations are requested by Thursday, Sept. 9. Tickets range from $15 to $100 on a sliding scale based on income. For $25, a donor may purchase a ticket for a low-income neighbor. Supporters may call (313) 579-2106, ext. 204, or make use of this registration form online.

"Our food system is broken," says Lisa Richter, an Earthworks spokeswoman. "At the same time, people are craving to reconnect with the land, and to reconnect with their community.

"One of the big misconceptions about Earthworks is that we just grow food. We're trying to inspire food system change, to reach the root causes of hunger and poverty."

Healthy Food and Education

She emphasizes that the two-acre Earthworks farms uses organic methods to grow more than 6,000 tons of healthy food, everything from greens to grapes to asparagus to carrots.

Volunteers from the neighborhood help out, including Youth Farm Stand students who receive lessons regarding what urban farmers describe as "sustainable agriculture." Eight neighborhood residents receive training stipends for regular work through the Earthworks/Capuchin Soup Kitchen partnership with the Gleaners Community Food Bank, and through the Southeast Michigan Equitable Agriculture Training program.

"It's an inspiration for us to show what is possible with small-scale agriculture, and through increasing accessibility to safe, healthy food," Richter says.

Capuchin Soup Kitchen was ahead of its time in 1998 when Earthworks was established. At the time, Detroit had about 60 community farm gardens. The number has exploded beyond 800, says Mayor Dave Bing. Bing says farm gardens can provide a three-way boost in food security, community spirit and economic development. Green-collar jobs most commonly are associated with alternative energy, bur urban farms also create employment potential.

Expansion Leads to Partnerships

Earthworks expanded in 2001 and began working with the Wayne County Department of Heath, which oversees the federal Women Infant and Children (WIC) food program. One aspect of WIC is Project FRESH, which encourages parents to serve their children fresh fruits and vegetables rather than unhealthy fast food and snacks. In this respect, produce from the Earthworks farm is helping to combat child obesity.

Earthworks also sells produce at venues such as Meldrum Fresh Market, which occurs every Thursday at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, and Detroit's Eastern Market, providing lessons in economics.

Another Earthworks expansion came in 2004, with the addition of a 1,300-square-foot greenhouse which helped in the production of more than 100,000 vegetable seedlings each season for distribution to families, and community and school gardens through the Garden Resource Program Collaborative.

"Earthworks has always been a labor of love, founded on the Franciscan vision of universal sister and brotherhood of all creation," states the Earthworks website. " We hope that this humble effort of love and desire to reconnect ourselves with the natural world we inhabit will remain part of the beacon of hope for all peoples and for all times."

SOURCES

Lisa Richter (313) 579-2106 lrichter@cskdetoit.org

http://www.cskdetroit.org/EWG/