Get Involved
There are lots of ways that you can get involved with the Project and help to make the food system in Baltimore more just, sustainable, and healthy. We have some ideas below, but welcome your suggestions, too, so Contact Us to discuss your ideas or interests. Volunteer
Host a Speaker
Apply for a Small Grant
Book Club and Recommended Reading
Video Library Volunteer
Whether you like to get your hands dirty by gardening, want to help cook healthy meals for soup kitchens, or wish to visit a farm to glean some produce for the hungry, we have plenty of ways that you can help out. Our current volunteer opportunities include: - Cardinal Shehan School Vegetable Garden
- First Fruit Farms, Inc. – One of our Advisory Committee members, Mr. Rick Bernstein, has created a non-profit ministry dedicated to providing healthy, fresh produce to those in need in our community. Since 2004, on about 40 acres of beautiful farmland and with help of hundreds of volunteers, they have been able to provide over 1 million pounds of fresh produce, 40 dozen eggs per week, honey and beef to various food banks and shelters. They could always use help in harvesting. All ages are welcome, and there are opportunities for individuals, families, groups, and companies, and best of all no experience is necessary to participate in something that will make a big difference in the health and well-being of our neighbors.
- Kayam Farm at Pearlstone models and inspires social and ecological responsibility by engaging the community in hands-on Jewish agricultural education. The farm includes organically grown vegetables, herbs, fruit trees, grapevines, grains, asparagus, berries, educational gardens, and a large greenhouse. Its harvest goes to Community Supported Agriculture, to the Pearlstone kitchen for guests to enjoy in the dining hall, and at least 10 percent is donated to the Hannah Moore Women’s Shelter in Reisterstown.
Volunteers at Kayam gain valuable hands-on experience in three main areas: farming, ecology, and education. There are a variety of ways to help: adopt your own garden, help out with general farm work, blaze trails, restore native ecosystems, or become a volunteer educator who can teach programs on the farm. Whether you are a Bnai Mitzvah student, family, teenager, or adult, there are plenty of fun, meaningful projects at Kayam that fit your skills, background, and interests.
Host a Speaker
We are happy to come and speak to your faith community, school or organization about a range of topics that relate to the food system, agriculture, environmental sustainability and so on. We can speak for as long (or as little!) as you’d like, come and stand beside a table to answer questions, or whatever would be helpful for you.
Sample topics: - agriculture and environmental sustainability (includes water usage and water pollution; climate change; air pollution; fossil fuel usage, etc.)
- agriculture and social and economic justice issues (includes farm worker labor conditions; the decline of family farms and rural communities; financial struggles of farmers; exposure of poor and minority communities to environmental “bads” associated with current industrial agricultural practices; how free trade agreements and other financial policies influence immigration and food justice in developing countries; how intensive agricultural resource use relates to conflict; world food shortages, etc.);
- industrial agriculture and farm animal welfare
- diet-related health disparities (e.g., diabetes, heart disease, obesity) among the poor and minorities; limited access to healthy foods for the poor and minorities
- relationship between general public health issues and food and agricultural systems
Apply for a Small Grant The Baltimore Food and Faith Project offers small grants to faith communities to support programming that can help to improve our food system. Here are some ideas for what you might do: - Create a study group that can explore how our food and agricultural systems relate to environmental sustainability, health, social justice and community. We have funding available to help you purchase curriculum that can guide your group in its exploration.
- Learn how to cook all the wonderful fresh produce you can get from our area farmers’ markets and gardens by hosting a cooking, canning or preserving class at your faith community and discover how to enjoy our region’s bounty all year long.
- Visit a sustainable farm. Gather together to harvest fresh produce for those in need in our communities. Tour a sustainable farming operation. Field trips are a fun and interesting way to learn about alternatives to our current food system and to make a difference in your own community.
- Plant a garden! Fruits, vegetables, herbs - the sky is the limit. Whether you are a church in the city with a small vacant lot, a synagogue in the suburbs with acres of land, or a school with a bunch of empty space, we can help you start to grow your own food, food for your faith community, and food for those in need.
- Go fair-trade. Coffee hour is a Saturday/Sunday morning institution for many faith communities. Why not use this time to promote social and economic justice and better reflect your values of “caring for the least of these?” We can help you to switch to fair-trade coffee (Episcopal Church, Other denominations) so that cup o’ Joe everyone is drinking will help to ensure fair pay to small farmers from around the world.
- Switch to organic communion bread, purchase some of, serve sustainably- and humanely-raised foods at your gatherings. We can help you find funding that will better enable your food choices to reflect your values
View our flyer or complete an Application here. We have three types of grants available: Small Grants of up to $500 for more involved and long-term projects, such as planting a garden. (application) Event Grants of up to $150 to help you purchase locally grown, sustainably produced, and humanely raised foods and beverages (or produce and distribute printed materials) for any events/workshops you host that educate people about the ways in which we produce and distribute food. (application) Mini Grants of up to $150 for smaller, more short-term projects, such as curriculum study, cooking classes, gleaning field trips, etc. (application) Contact Us for more information.
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