TOWNSHEND — On Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 6 p.m. at the Townshend Community Church on the Common, the West River Valley Community Conversation (WRVCC) will host a pot luck supper to celebrate the grants that were recently awarded by the Meeting Waters YMCA's Healthy Communities Coalition to several local food projects in the West River Valley.
Former Vermont Agriculture Secretary and longtime Townshend resident Roger Allbee will start the conversation after dinner with some remarks about the wisdom and virtues of growing our own food.
The WRVCC Food Assessment Committee, which wrote the successful grant application, will then give a brief statement about the findings of its assessment, especially as to what people reported that they would find useful in improving their food resources, and the implications of this information for future projects that the WRVCC could help sponsor or organize.
This will be followed by the introduction of a representative of each project awarded a grant who will give a brief description of their project, their vision and future plans, as well as a statement about their need for volunteers. These projects, and how they plan to use their grants, include:
• Townshend Food Shelf: Building a children's food shelf that would feature healthy, nutritious options.
• Townshend Common Farmers' Market: Installing a wireless machine cost for the market, and for the Neighborhood (low-income) Market project the TCFM wishes to start; helping to underwrite Neighborhood Market costs to farmers, and Harvest Health coupons; and marketing, signage, community education, and an art contest for designing a TCFM poster.
• West Townshend Community Project: A freezer for local meat to supplement the CSA the project started this past summer; EBT machine access.
• Townshend Community Garden: A storage shed and irrigation equipment.
The evening will conclude with a community conversation in which people will be encouraged to talk about other local food projects that they're either involved with or know about, as well as suggestions and ideas for new projects;
The WRVCC includes the towns of Wardsboro, Jamaica, West Townshend, Townshend, Grafton, Athens, and Brookline. Initiated by Post Oil Solutions, its purpose is to address the question of how all the people of the West River Valley region can access a healthy, safe, nutritious, locally-grown diet in the years ahead.
The WRVCC will work to support existing local food projects, as well as start new ones that advance greater community food-sufficiency in our region. Contact Tim Stevenson for further information at 802-869-2141 or info@postoilsolutions.org.