My Week on the GROW Method: Part 2

By Zoe Johannas, Community Engagement Intern


For this post, the 2nd of my 3 GROW Method blogs, I'll get into how I managed to fit in the cost of GROW on my college kid budget. Check out my previous post to see how I handled reducing my food waste, an integral part of the GROW Method!

Now here we come to my second grocery store struggle. No matter how much I prepare beforehand, whether I try list-making, pre-shopping protein shakes, or careful, strategic stretching, I inevitably crave every single snack food that I lay my eyes on. From chips, to fruit snacks, to wasabi peas my cravings rotate with every passing aisle. Thankfully, I can usually depend on my wobbly will-power to push me past the yogurt covered yummies, but I always falter as I round the corner to the dairy aisle.

I don't know what it is about me and my cheese, but I can never seem to escape the grocery store without three different kinds. I mean, I always have to pick up some basic cheddar. It's just a simple snacking necessity. And then I obviously need some Parmesan for my go-to, throw on all cooked meals type of cheese. But what about salads! I love feta on fresh summer salads! Oh is that Swiss?

The only thing keeping me in check in the sight of all that is Wisconsin-made and wonderful, is my fat brown wallet, filled to capacity with discount cards, yet almost completely void of cash. So as I took on the task of trying to stay seasonal and fair trade on top of already being gluten free, I was concerned that adding the GROW Method would be a precarious weight to balance on my already wobbly grocery bill. 

As it turned out, shopping with the GROW Method took more of a toll on my schedule than my wallet. For this first round of GROW Method shopping, it took some time to check the labels on various items, to hunt down the local produce, and to weed through the cheaper, bigger, shinier jumbo fruits. The result however, was a delicious arrangement of fruits and veggies. Though slightly smaller and mercifully less shiny, they added up to only a few dollars more at the check-out. 

 Those extra dollars weren’t too bad this time around, but in the future I think that I could eliminate this too by cutting back in other areas. After all, I could have probably cut out the feta. Wait, no, not the feta. Maybe the Swiss. 

Have some other ways to shop GROW on a budget? I could certainly use them! Email us at actioncorps@oxfamamerica.org with your tips and strategies, or share as a comment on this blog!

New faces! Oxfam Action Corps welcomes its 2012 Organizers

May 12-15 marks the 6th annual Oxfam Action Corps advocacy and leadership training in Washington DC, and we’re very excited to introduce to you this year’s Organizers!  Twenty-nine Oxfam supporters from 15 US cities are stepping up as local leaders willing to provide a helping hand to anyone in their city who wants to fight hunger and poverty with Oxfam.  They bring experience in organizing, a passion for global justice, and a commitment to provide leadership in their city.  Now they need YOU to join them!

In Washington DC they will learn advocacy and leadership skills and then hit Capitol Hill for a day of lobby visits with their legislators, in which they will deliver Oxfam’s petition to fix US food aid. Click here to sign the petition.

Once they get home the Organizers will be revved up for action and counting on you to provide your help and ideas!  Please reach out and say hi – we’ve provided contact info below the slide show.

Feel free to contact any of our new organizers about getting involved!

Kalen and Theresa, Albuquerque, NM- newmexico@oxfamactioncorps.org 

Jackie and Shannon, Austin, TX- austin@oxfamactioncorps.org

Carolina and Rebecca, Boston, MA- boston@oxfamactioncorps.org

Heather and Kayla, Burlington, VT- vermont@oxfamactioncorps.org

Adam and Jessica, Chicago, IL- chicago@oxfamactioncorps.org

Djeynaba and Jessica, Columbus, OH- columbus@oxfamactioncorps.org

Amy and Lance, Des Moines, IA- iowa@oxfamactioncorps.org

Hope and Jennifer, Indianapolis, IN- indianpolis@oxfamactioncorps.org

Emma and Shayla, Kansas City, MO- kansascity@oxfamactioncorps.org

Elise and Kathryn, Madison, WI- madison@oxfamactioncorps.org

Elizabeth and Kim, Minneapolis, MN- minnesota@oxfamactioncorps.org

Jill and Taryn, New York, NY- newyorkcity@oxfamactioncorps.org

Lindsy, Philadelphia, PA- philadelphia@oxfamactioncorps.org

Amy and Jessica, San Francisco, CA- sanfrancisco@oxfamactioncorps.org

Francis and Melissa, Seattle, WA- seattle@oxfamactioncorps.org

"Imagine if food could talk. What would your rice tell you?"

This World Food Day, dedicate your dinner to the farmers who produced the food on your plate.  

Oxfam America is teaming up with a host of allies across the US and around the globe.  We have a simple yet compelling idea—to host a Sunday Dinner October 16 that fosters a conversation about where your food comes from, who cultivates it, and how we can make the food system more just and sustainable.  Order your free materials by October 12.  


Archbishop Desmond Tutu, food activist and author Frances Moore Lappé, and activist and organic farmer Ellen Walsh-Rosmann invite you to host your own Sunday Dinner:

How to host a Sunday Dinner:

• Decide what kind of gathering you want. How many people? What kind of food? Have a potluck and ask everyone to bring their favorite dish. You can also make a dish contributed by chefs such as Giada De Laurentiis, Mark Bittman, Eric Yost, José Andrés , and the Mennonite Central Committee, or these cheap recipes for Slow Food USA's $5 Challenge.
• Decide on the time and place and get the word out in order to get your guest count.
• Order Free Materials for your dinner by Oct. 12. We have World Food Day place mats to use at your table and sets of recipe cards to give out to your guests. For large events we have posters, stickers, and more.
• Use our Sunday Dinner Discussion Guide to facilitate the conversation during your dinner.
• Before your guests leave, ask them to join the Oxfam America Mobile Action Network. Text OXFAM to 30644 and we’ll send you critical updates about how you can help during global emergencies, take action when Congress is debating important legislation, and join us when there are Oxfam events in your area. Text STOP at any time to unsubscribe.

Spreading GROW Message with Ra Ra Riot!

by Brittany Collins, Oxfam America Community Engagement Intern

                Chilling with rock stars while saving the world—aka, just another day at my internship.  On Friday August 12, I had my first Oxfam America concert volunteering opportunity.  Ra Ra Riot, Jack's Mannequin, and Guster partnered with Reverb, a non-profit based in Portland, Maine that strives to make concert tours as environmentally friendly as possible, for their summer tour.  In turn, Reverb invited Oxfam America to table at their shows.  My favorite part of the Reverb concert experience?  Two words: free water.  Not being forced to pay five bucks for a bottle of water when you already have your own reusable, eco-friendly water bottle is, to borrow from Maine’s state motto, the way life should be.  I was also very encouraged to hear that a good number of the concert-goers had participated in the ride-share program to arrive to the show. 

                We tabled alongside Climate Counts, a non-profit that assigns scores to companies across the globe on their climate impact in an effort to encourage consumers to be conscious and make informed purchases as well as to urge the companies themselves to be environmentally responsible.  With such environmentally-friendly people surrounding us, Oxfam America was excited to bring an international perspective to the table (pun intended). 

                Oxfam America’s Senior Advisor of Music Outreach, Bob Ferguson, held down our table while my friend, Oxfam America volunteer Delia Harrington, and I canvassed the crowd informing concert-goers about global food injustice and specifically the Herger-Crowley Ethanol Subsidy Repeal Act (HR 2307) that Oxfam America supports.  We collected 120 petition signatures in support of HR 2307 (show your support by signing the online petition!).  We were thrilled to see that most people were very receptive to the GROW campaign as a whole and supportive of ending tax credits and subsidies to the corn ethanol industry.  Many were unaware that diverting cropland to ethanol production is one major cause of rising food prices that are putting basic food staples out of reach for the world’s poorest people.

Volunteer Delia Harrington and Community Engagement Intern Brittany Collins 
with Ra Ra Riot at the Oxfam America booth

                The highlight of the night (barely edging out our giving a pair of Guster Meet and Greet passes to two incredibly appreciative diehard Guster fans/Oxfam supporters) was hosting dedicated Oxfam supporters Ra Ra Riot at our table for an autograph signing.  Fans lined up and inquired about Oxfam while waiting for their chance to chat with Ra Ra.  It’s great to have an awesome band like them on board with us-- we immensely appreciate their support and are excited to continue working with them in the future! 

                Ra Ra Riot, Jack’s Mannequin, and Guster all put on excellent shows, and the night was capped off with a hilarious surprise appearance by “Saturday Night Live” star Will Forte, who performed a unique rendition of Foreigner’s “I Want To Know What Love Is” with Guster.  All in all, an amazing evening of spreading Oxfam’s message and experiencing great performances!  

Inspiring Action at the Core of CHANGE

by Caitlin DiMaina, Oxfam America Community Engagement Intern

     I stood behind a table covered in Oxfam Action Corps and GROW materials, munching on some sweet barbeque at dusk on a Sunday in July at Eastern Nazarene College, just south of Boston in Quincy, MA. Sprawled over picnic tables, benches, and the grass were over 60 people, including a group of 50 college students; Oxfam America staff and interns, and facilitators for the CHANGE Initiative 2011. This is the highly competitive national student leadership program that trains college students to become actively engaged with Oxfam America’s work. Its goals: to broaden perspectives, inspire action, and shape a new generation of global citizens.

Tabling for new 2011 CHANGE leaders at the barbecue. 

     From my vantage point behind the table about Action Corps grassroots organizing, it was a fantastic view. I saw passionate college students engaging in stimulating conversation about world issues such as extractive industries and food justice, the grassroots growing before my eyes. Dreams to create change were bubbling up and over, flooding into solid ideas for action on college campuses across the U.S.

     The Oxfam Action Corps together with CHANGE Leaders make the perfect combination to build our constituency and reach out to youth and adults alike. From taking political action by advocating for Oxfam’s campaigns to members of Congress, to organizing tabling at concerts and holding awareness events on campus, these two groups help Oxfam cast a wide net to not only garner support, but also encourage others to ACT FAST and live Oxfam’s mission.

     This week our goal is to get these two groups of activists connected and talking. We’re making some introductions via email and can’t wait to see the new additions to our ‘Oxfamily’ begin to work together to end poverty and injustice.  

For your reference, below is the list of the colleges and universities of the 2011CHANGE Leaders; for the Oxfam Action Corps cities, please see the left sidebar on this blog for a list linked to each city's own blog or Facebook.

                                                                                         

University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Loyola University Maryland

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Macalester College

Elon University

University of Vermont

St. Michael's College

University of South Florida

Buena Vista University

University of Iowa

University of Idaho

DePaul University

Northwestern University

Indiana University

Washburn University

Berea College

Union College

Tulane University

Loyola Marymount University

University of California Santa Cruz

University of Southern California

Wesleyan University

Boston University

Northeastern University

Smith College

SUNY Stoney Brook

The New School

Samford University

University of Alabama at Birmingham

Arizona State University

American University

Georgetown University

North Dakota State University

University of New Hampshire

The College of William and Mary

Virginia Tech

West Virginia Wesleyan College

University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Rider University

Bucknell University

Delaware Valley College

Villanova University

University of Tennessee-Knoxville

University of Texas, Austin

University of Wyoming

University of New Mexico

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

John Carroll University

Ohio University

Ohio State University

The national Oxfam Action Corps blog goes live!

What is the national Oxfam Action Corps blog? Other than a mouthful, it’s a place for all Oxfam supporters to see what is happening across the country and to participate in a community of fellow volunteers. Today our new blog, with its stories to share and interesting experiences to highlight, goes live for the first time.  As an Oxfam supporter who has had the chance to intern with the Oxfam Action Corps at the Boston headquarters, I am so excited to be able to present this new way of sharing the Action Corps experience!

Here are some of the things we want to share on this blog:

1) Stories from the Oxfam Action Corps volunteers on the ground. Oxfam America has active groups of Action Corps volunteers in 14 cities across the country, from coast to coast and everywhere in between. As they put on great events, spread the word at the latest concert and educate their communities on the important issues we face, we will highlight some of the great things they do on this blog for everyone to see and be a part of.  

2) Individual Actions creating one national movement. As a single volunteer within a single group in one city in America, it can be easy to forget how the actions we take at home contribute to something bigger. Every time an Action Corps volunteer gets a petition signed, or makes a new connection with an ally, this adds to the national and global goals of Oxfam America. Through this blog we can share how all of the individual actions in our communities have had a country wide impact.

3) Reflections from Oxfam supporters and interns. For the first time, we can share what the experience of working at the Oxfam headquarters is like for an Oxfam supporter. As interns we get to take part in fascinating meetings and to watch how all of the Action Corps cities interact and come together. With this new medium, we can share our experiences and discoveries.

4) Place of community. Even though Oxfam Action Corps volunteers come in all types, sizes, ages and careers, there is one very important thing we all have in common: a desire to see the world change for the better. That is a powerful connection and we hope that this blog will help every Oxfam supporter with that goal to feel part of a community that they can share with and participate in.

From big annual events like International Women’s Day, to the daily stories of the Action Corps that table at farmers markets and community events, expect to see a lot from this new National blog and expect take part in all the experiences we have as a social movement for change. To stay even more connected, follow us on twitter and join our group on facebook, and please, share with us too!