Eating for the FutureGet 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 with Our Partners
Host a Speaker
Apply for Garden Grant
Book Club and Recommended Reading
Film Series and Video Library Volunteer with Our Partners
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: - First Fruit Farms, Inc. – It is 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. 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. - Our Daily Bread - Maryland’s hot meal program, Our Daily Bread (ODB) serves more than a quarter million meals to the hungry of Baltimore City each year with Dignity and Respect. ODB serves nutritious lunches every day of the year and breakfast to seniors and individuals with disabilities each weekday. Ongoing partnerships with local growers and distributors of fresh produce are enabling its plates to include fresh seasonal and regional produce whenever available. To help out, please contact the Volunteer Line directly at (443) 986-9031 in order to schedule a shift in the kitchen or serving in the Dining Room. Shifts are daily from 9am - 1pm, but must be scheduled in advance.
The Franciscan Center - Founded by the Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore in 1968, the Franciscan Center is an outreach agency that provides emergency assistance and support to economically disenfranchised individuals in an effort to assist them in realizing their self-worth and dignity as people of God. Four days a week, they serve a nutritionally balanced meal to around 400 people a day, for a total of over 80,000 meals each year. In an effort to promote dignity among and improve the health of their clients, the Franciscan Center has been working diligently to incorporate more fresh produce into their meals. Opportunities to volunteer are available Monday through Friday. For more information, please contact the Franciscan Center’s volunteer office for questions.
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 Garden Grant The Baltimore Food & Faith Project is pleased to provide small grants to faith communities, religious schools, and other faith-based organizations to help them create vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens that can help to improve our food system. Congregations/schools/organizations must be located in Baltimore City and in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, and Howard Counties. Grants will be awarded in amounts up to $750. Here are some thoughts for what you might do, but you are welcome to develop your own ideas as well: - Use the garden to teach students and congregants about environmental stewardship in practice (this might include avoiding the use of chemical pesticides, fertilizers, and weed-killers; setting up a composting system; installing a more efficient watering system or using rain barrels; planting heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables; planting native plants and others to attract pollinators; etc.)
- Donate the produce grown in the garden to an area food bank, soup kitchen, senior center, or to others in need.
- Use the garden to encourage healthy eating in children and congregants by teaching them how to grow food themselves, prepares it, cook it, and store it.
- Connect the garden to ancient biblical agricultural laws (such as leaving the produce grown in the corners of the field to those in need); harvest holidays (e.g., Sukkot and Thanksgiving); plants in religious texts (e.g., beans, figs, mint), etc.
Grant applications are being accepted through August 15, 2011, or until funding runs out, whichever comes first. Contact Us for more information, or complete the Application Form here. |
