Why not GROW at farmers' markets and food festivals?



Happy Summer! One of my favorite things about warmer weather is all the amazing local produce that is finally ready to consume—watermelons, berries, beets, arugula, asparagus, and my absolute favorite cherries.  You can bet on finding me at any one of Boston’s farmers’ markets agonizing over which of these treats to buy. I wish that everyone could be able to look forward to local and seasonal produce not just here in the US but everywhere, from Haiti to Brazil, Cambodia to India and Mali to Jordan.

Since working on Oxfam’s GROW campaign, I am ever more conscious and thankful to farmers for the veggies and fruits of their labors.  Coming this summer in mid-July Oxfam is rolling out the GROW Method that includes 5 simple principles like eating seasonally, supporting small scale farmers and eating less meat. The GROW Method is a brand new way of thinking about food—the way we buy it, prepare it and eat it. We are encouraging people to follow the GROW method as a way of helping restore food justice.

What can you do? Well, you can help us build a GROW movement by tabling and talking with folks attending farmers’ markets and food festivals in your city. What better place to chat about food and the GROW campaign than at these food events that are attended by people that care about food?

 

Our friends at the Harry Potter Alliance say it best “Let us authentically connect with the minds, hearts and needs of the people that are going to be making our movement happen. It is not a crazy concept, it is a not a radical concept, and it is the simplest idea possible!”

This weekend here in Boston two colleagues from the office will be tabling at the SOWA market on GROW.  What are the food festivals and farmers’ markets in your city that you’d like to table at and talk about GROW? We are happy to provide you with the necessary tools to make it happen.

Coming soon, a Farmers’ market and Food Festival tabling kit.



 Oxfam Action Corps Leaders from NYC, Columbus and Des Moines at a farmers' market in
Des Moines, IA for the World Food Prize event



A very Oxfam homecoming on the Coldplay tour!

Check out this great blog post from our Oxfam On Tour blog written by guest blogger Najat Elsayed, Oxfam America CHANGE leader and on-tour coordinator for Oxfam America on the Coldplay tour in 2005-2006.

Last night I came back home to my Oxfam family by volunteering at the Houston concert. My life has changed a lot since I used to tour with Coldplay in 2005 and 2006 as the Oxfam representative on tour. I got married, had a beautiful baby girl and now I am working as a college prep counsellor at a Houston private school. Although life will always continue to move forward when I volunteered yesterday it was as if I was back at home with my Oxfam and Coldplay family. I could feel the love and support and shared stories and laughter among friends old and new.

When I was on tour six years ago fans would stop by our booth to say “Howdy” and sign up to learn more about the campaign. Last night it was the same story but with new fans and a new campaign. They all wanted to know how they could be a part of this global movement and help. This brought back to me one thing with full force, a rekindling of the passion that I have always had in my heart to help end hunger and poverty through supporting and raising awareness about Oxfam and the GROW campaign. I actually began to get a little teary eyed when I was watching the concert after working as a volunteer at the booth.

Why was I getting a bit emotional I thought, perhaps the memories of all the amazing things we did to help people in need while on tour, maybe it was the family atmosphere that Jackie, EJ, Pauline, Sheri, Mark, the band of course, fans, and the entire Coldplay team had given me when I was on tour. It was very possible that it was the amazing Coldplay music that got me moving and touched my heart yet again. Perhaps it was the fact that I was getting involved again with Oxfam and doing my part however little it was to make a difference in making sure that everyone should have enough to eat no matter where they are. Most likely it was a combination of all of the above.

Do you want to get passionate about something? Why don’t you get involved and see how we can all grow together in making a difference in being the change we wish to see in the world. I guarantee you will have wonderful memories that will last you a lifetime and even better you will do your part to help make this world a better place in joining the Oxfam Family.

Hopefully see you soon, Najat.

If you would like to join the ‘Oxfam family’ sign up for the Oxfam Action Corps, the Coldplay tour or take action anytime at http://actfast.oxfamamerica.org .

Great Post by the Minnesota Action Corps featuring Flogging Molly!

Flogging Molly Concert

Hi there, my name is Liz Harper and I am one of the newly trained lead volunteer organizers for Oxfam Action Corps of Minnesota! I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself since I will be the one keeping you all updated over the course of this next exciting year! I am a mom, a student and a chiropractic assistant so I stay busy, but I love making time for Action Corps. Since returning from D.C. with my co-leader Kim Kokket, (see the previous blog to hear more about the trip!) we have been staying active getting the group back up and rolling! Before we could even sit down and discuss our plans, we were already getting invited to the Flogging Molly show at "The Brick" in downtown Minneapolis! We happily accepted!

Flogging Molly are long time fans of Oxfam and we have had a presence at many of their shows over the years. This was my first time seeing them and it was awesome! Jessica, Kim and I all attended the show that night, and I have to admit it was pretty cool getting let in on the "Band's list". We set-up next to the merchandise table of The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band. Although we didn't get to see them perform, from what we could hear they put on a great show!

We all had a great time talking to people at the show about Oxfam, and we got alot of people to sign on to help fix our broken food system! 

Check out this awesome blog post courtesy of the NYC Action Corps about their successful pie and food aid petition deliveries!

Oxfam Action Corps NYC Volunteers outside of Gillibrand and Schumer's Offices

On Friday, April 27th, Oxfam Action Corps NYC volunteers visited the offices of Senator Gillibrand and Senator Schumer with a special package - 67% of a pie and petition signatures to tell Washington to Stop playing with food aid!

A third of of the pie had already been eaten already with a  fork  labeled  ‘special  interests.’  Just as 32 cents out of every dollar going to U.S. food aid goes into the pockets of special interests, only 68% of the pie made it to the congressional staff.

Right now Washington is playing with our global food aid programs, with regulations that protect special interests at the expense of hungry people. These regulations cost taxpayers up to $500 million per year.

It’s time to put an end to the wasteful special interest deals by reforming food aid programs in the 2012 Farm Bill. If we cut the red tape we can reach up to 17 million more people with life-saving aid at no additional cost to taxpayers. Save millions more lives, without spending a dime. It’s a no-brainer.

You too can take action and Tell Washington to stop playing with other people's food.

Below is an interesting infographic outlining how current food aid dollars are spent.

6th Annual Oxfam Action Corps Lobby Day

By guest blogger Kristen Miller, intern with Oxfam’s Boston office.

 
On May 15^th in Washington D.C Oxfam Action Corps Organizers lobbied over 52 Senators and Representatives from over fifteen states, and I got to join them for my first experience in grassroots advocacy.
 We urged Members of Congress to fix the food aid program by cutting waste, putting the interests of people in need and American taxpayers ahead of industry lobbyists. Oxfam doesn’t take US government funds, but recognizes that cutting government red tape would help deliver more life saving food aid at the same price. Today 32 cents of every tax dollar spent on food aid goes to waste or to special interests.  It's spent on shipping overseas, markups for shipping regulations, markups for purchasing from preferred U.S growers and overhead. 75% of U.S food aid must be shipped from the U.S on preferred U.S vessels; these special interest regulations cost U.S taxpayers over $491 million annually.

Together with the Action Corps organizers we urged our representatives to make our dollars count! We delivered over 10,000 petitions from Oxfam supporters and asked for food aid to be purchased locally in developing countries rather than have it shipped from the U.S. This would allow more money to directly go to the purchase of food as well as support local farmers in these developing countries. With these reforms the US would be able to respond to crises up to 14 weeks faster and reach 17 million more people with lifesaving food aid. When people are starving the time it takes for food to be delivered can make all the difference!

We are counting on our Members of Congress to take urgent action and reform food aid provisions in the Farm Bill.  Oxfam staff will continue to deliver our message as debate continues in Washington.  All in all, the 6^th Annual Oxfam Action Corps Training lobby day was a huge success—as described by Jessica Shao an organizer from San Francisco (pictured here with Amy Torregrossa), “The lobby day was a wonderful experience, I’m very thankful for this opportunity to experience our democracy.”  For my part, I’ll take this training in grassroots advocacy with me in coming years as I continue my studies in France and complete my degree in International Affairs at Northeastern University.