Two events coming up on October 16 & 17:

October 16th: Syracuse Grows Workshop
“Food Deserts and Food Security in Urban Communities”

• Location: The Atrium Building, 2 Clinton Square, Syracuse, NY
• Time: 12:00 – 2:30 pm
• Description: Anan Xola Lololi, food justice advocate and urban agriculture pioneer, will be visiting Syracuse to speak on Food Deserts, as well as give an informal workshop on Community Gardening Administration. The event will be brown bag lunch and will have a suggested donation of $5. Please join Syracuse Grows on World Food Day <http://www.worldfooddayusa.org/>  in a discussion of these important issues.

October 17th: Syracuse Grows-CSA CNY-Slow Food CNY
Fall Harvest Potluck Dinner

• Location: The Assumption Church Parish Center, 800 N Salina St, Syracuse, NY
  (enter by the green doors on Catawba Street)
• Time: 4:00 – 6:00 pm
• Description: Bring a dish to share and celebrate the harvest with us.  Keynote presentation by Anan Xola Lololi and updates from our organizations.  Snail awards, too.  All welcome.

This fall, Congress will decide whether to update the Child Nutrition Act, a federal law that governs the National School Lunch Program.  This act comes up for reauthorization every four to five years and it determines what 30 million children eat at school every day.  For many children, school lunch is their only meal of the day.  Right now, these children are forced to choose between going hungry and being unhealthy.

On Labor Day, Sept. 7, 2009, tens of thousands of people in communities across the nation will sit down to share a meal with their neighbors. This National Eat-In will send a clear message to legislators: our country is coming together for a future where no child is denied his or her right to good health, and where every child enjoys real food in school.

Join Slow Food Central New York for a public potluck picnic! Share a meal and show support for getting real food in schools.

Elmwood Park pavilion, Syracuse
11:30am – 2:30pm

Bring a blanket, chair, your own plate and utensils, beverage, and a homemade dish to share.

Directions:
Elmwood Park is in the southwestern portion of Syracuse.  The park entrance is just west of the junction of South Avenue (Rt 175), Valley Drive (Rt 80), and Glenwood Avenue.  MAP

• From South Avenue or Valley Drive, go west on Glenwood and watch for the park entrance on your left.
• From the northwest:  Take Geddes Street to Glenwood Avenue.  Turn left on Glenwood, drive past Roberts Elementary, and continue east to the park entrance on your right, across the street from Craddock Street.
• From the east: Take either Colvin Street or Brighton Avenue to South Avenue.  Turn left and drive towards Glenwood Avenue.

The picnic pavilion is in the center of the park.  The park road leads to a small parking lot above the pavilion.  Alternatively, leave your car in the lot next to the old mill, near the park entrance.  Follow Furnace Brook upstream to the picnic pavilion, a 5-10 minute walk.

Please read information on potluck food safety.

Colorful brochure on potluck food safety.

More details:

In a time of escalating diabetes and obesity epidemics, our schools serve children precisely the fast food and junk food that endangers their health.

This year, Congress can give schools the resources to improve school lunch by increasing school lunch reimbursements by $1/child/day in this year’s Child Nutrition Act. The current reimbursement rate for a free lunch is $2.57, which must also pay for labor and equipment.  Schools are left with only $1.00 to spend on food.  It’s time to make a down payment on health care reform by raising the reimbursement rate to $3.57.

Tell US Congress you support reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act.

http://www.alchemicalnursery.org/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=31&func=view&catid=23&id=246#246

Lets keep the discussion going on this, now is an awesome time to make change.

Syracuse Grows is a coalition of community gardeners formed with the intent to create a unified cogent voice for this community and also act as a lobbying organization, giving previously dis-empowered groups the ability to have a voice in local political decisions.

And, personally, I feel that the Slow Food Syracuse chapter could have a mission statement very similar. With that in mind, I want Slow Food Syracuse to partner with Syracuse Grows. I was just reading a Victual Reality article about a recent Slow Food event, Terre Madre, and apparently Slow Food USA is on the same page as me on this. Here’s a quote from the article:

Josh Viertel, Slow Food USA’s new president, set the tone. He announced that the organization would from now forward pursue two main priorities: youth organizing and social justice. “Our food system disproportionately hurts poor people and people of color, and alternatives aren’t accessible to those groups,” he said.

He said that in the past, the group had focused its rhetoric on values: commitment to “good, clean, and fair food,” for example. From now on, it would emphasize rights. “Access to good, clean, and fair food is not a privilege,” he declared. “It’s a right, and we have to make that clear.” That message, he insisted, was the most important one that delegates could bring back to their communities.

Awesome stuff. Let’s keep this in mind as we form our own mission statement!