<!-- Alternate content for non-supporting browsers --> <div id="pic-container" name="pic-container" style="float:right; width:310;height:225; text-align:right;background-color: white;"><img id="pic-rotate" name="pic-rotate" src="/news/newsletter/images/issue36/36-0.jpg" border="1" width="300" height="200" alt="A City of Villages" title="A City of Villages" /> <div id="pic-title" name="pic-title" style="float:right; margin: 0; padding: 0;"><font size="-2">A City of Villages </font></div></div><script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">var pic_sel= new Array(); pic_sel[0] = new Image(); pic_sel[0].src='/news/newsletter/images/issue36/36-0.jpg'; pic_sel[0].alt='A City of Villages'; var picnumb= 1; </script><font face='verdana,helvetica'> <i><b>A City of Villages : OFC May Newsletter</b> <br />Tori<b> <p>Food Justice!</b></i> <p>Greetings friends and supporters of Oakland Food Connection! <br /> <br /> In this issue: <br /> 1.Community Gardening Days (Tuesdays and Thursdays starting May 5th) <br /> 2.“Food, Land and Equity” Panel Discussion (May 7th) <br /> 3.Summer Volunteer Orientation (May 14th) <br /> 4.Art of Living Foundation Fundraiser (May 15th) <br /> 5.Work day at Good Foot Farms (May 16th) <br /> 6.OFC Benefit at Frugal Foodies (May 19th) <br /> 7.Youth CREATE Program Orientation (May 23rd) <br /> 8.OFC Open House (Save the date! June 20th) <br /> 9.Oakland Community Farmers’ Market (Every Saturday 10am-2pm at 4173 Macarthur) </p> <p> First and foremost, we want to extend our most heartfelt thanks and appreciation to all of you that attended and donated to our fundraiser, Feast for Food Justice. What a success! Thanks to Savory Thymes for preparing a fantastic dinner featuring recipes from Bryant Terry’s new book, Vegan Soul Kitchen, and for coordinating such a lovely event at such a beautiful location! </p> <p> Also, Special Thanks to all of our guest speakers and performers: <br /> Weyland Southon, KPFA (http://www.kpfa.org/hard-knock-radio) <br /> Sara Washington O’Neal Rush, great-granddaughter of Booker T. Washington <br /> Fatima Jones and Kevin Jackson, peer educator and youth manager at OFC <br /> Bryant Terry, author and chef (http://www.bryant-terry.com) <br /> Renee Wilson (http://www.reneewilson.org) <br /> Strings of Nubian Groove (http://www.harpistfromthehood.com/home.html) </p> <p> The event was truly enjoyable and we are so glad to have raised funds to support East Oakland youth and their food justice programs! Thank you all so much! </p> <p> Check out some great photos here, courtesy of David Hanks! http://www.davidhanks.org/9023ofc </p> <p> Now, for some updates and goings-on at Oakland Food Connection: </p> <p> <b>TUESDAYS and THURSDAYS starting May 5th:</b> Community Gardening Days! Starting May 5th Oakland Food Connection will be offering community gardening days at our backyard garden space! We will meet here at the Oakland Food Connection office (4173 Macarthur Blvd Suite 10) at 9am (sharp!) and bus over to the backyard garden, plan to be back at the office by 12pm. Prepare to get dirty, bring gloves and a bottle of water. We can accommodate 10 people per day, so <b>PLEASE RSVP!</b> Contact Tori at tori@foodcommunityculture.org or (510) 482-1898 if you’d like to sign up (Days to sign up: May 5th, 7th, 12th, 14th, 19th, 21st, 26th or 28th)! </p> <p> <b>Thursday, May 7th:</b> from <b>7:30pm-9:00pm</b> CommuniTree Festival Panel Discussion on "Food, Land, and Equity” at Ashkenaz, <b>1317 San Pablo Ave.</b> in Berkeley – with Jason Harvey (Oakland Food Connection), Anita Miralle (Healthy Hoodz), Eric Maundu (Kiji Growth Systems), Judy Quea (Cafe Gratitude), David Roach (Mo Betta Foods). For more information check out the CommuniTree website: http://www.communitreemovement.org/ </p> <p> <b>Thursday, May 14th:</b> Oakland Food Connection’s Summer volunteer orientation! From <b>6:00-8:00pm</b> here at our office at <b>4173 Macarthur Blvd Suite 10.</b> Are you interested in becoming a volunteer for Oakland Food Connection? Come see what volunteer opportunities we have to offer! We’ll go over Oakland Food Connection 101 as well as some fun activities and events coming up this summer! Please RSVP by May 13th! Contact Tori at tori@foodcommunityculture.org or by phone at (510) 482-1898 </p> <p> <b>Friday, May 15th:</b> The Art of Living Foundation will be holding a fundraiser event at B.A.H.I.A. school in Berkeley (http://www.bahiainc.com/) starting at <b>1pm!</b> The Art of Living Foundation is a group of dedicated individuals collectively trying to raise $18,000 to support nonprofit organizations throughout the bay area. OFC’s very own Afterschool Programs Coordinator at EC Reems Academy, Maria Cepeda, will be fundraising specifically for Oakland Food Connection and its programs! Come by and check out all the amazing things this event has to offer! Food, live music, capoeira, DJ from local radio station KMEL, children’s activities, meditation and yoga, workshops and more! For more information contact Maria Cepeda </p> <p> <b>Saturday, May 16th:</b> Work day and farm visit to Good Foot Farms! Good Foot Farms is a small, five acre along the Merced River in Livingston, CA. We will <b>meet here at the OFC office (4173 Macarthur Blvd Suite 10) at 8:00am SHARP</b> and be getting back between 5:30-6pm. If you’d like to join us please RSVP by Thursday, May 14th! Contact: tori@foodcommunityculture.org or (510) 482-1898. <br /> <b>PLEASE NOTE:</b> As per the farmers request, NO cameras or cell phones are allowed. Garden tools (hoes, shovels, etc.) are welcome. PLEASE bring gloves and water and some food to share. Thanks! </p> <p> <b>Tuesday, May 19th: 6:00pm-9:45pm</b> Benefit for Oakland Food Connection at Frugal Foodies! <br /> It’s Guest Chef Night, and I’m most excited to welcome back Smruti Shah for her third time leading the show. Smruti is a true foodie and comes up with creative menus every time she’s here. This time around, it will be a night of street food and here’s what Smruti has to say about what lay in store: “Spicy, delicious, fast. One of my favorite things when I travel is sampling local food, and nothing is more evocative of local flavor than what you find being grilled, fried, cooked up and consumed out on the streets. Recipes/countries of origin to be determined.” This night will also be a benefit night for Oakland Food Connection, so sign-up as you would for any other night, but please also take a look at www.frugalfoodies.org/benefit to learn how it all works. (Courtesy of J Moses Cesar and Frugal Foodies) </p> <p> <b>Saturday, May 23rd:</b> Youth CREATE program orientation <b>4:00-5:30pm</b> at the Oakland Food Connection office at <b>4173 Macarthur Blvd</b> This orientation is focused on East Oakland youth that are interested in being a part of our summer Youth CREATE program. We are looking to recruit 10 neighborhood youth from the EC Reems/Castlemont neighborhood, the Millsmont neighborhood and Laurel neighborhood to be a part of this awesome program! Youth CREATE (Community Restoration and Ecological Action Transforming Urban Environments), a program that will allow Oakland Food Connection to deepen participant’s past experience through cooking, gardening, agro-ecological restoration, and wilderness experiences. The program helps students draw connections between environmental stewardship, personal health, and community health. For more information or to find out how to sign up please contact us at info@foodcommunityculture.org or by phone at (510) 482-1898. Thanks! </p> <p> <b>Saturday, June 20th:</b> Save the date! OFC Open House and Grand Opening of the OFC Food Pantry! From <b>10am-2pm</b> come by the OFC office at <b>4173 Macarthur Blvd Suite 10</b> to check out our brand new Food Pantry as well as our Saturday Farmers’ Market! Come get the inside scoop on how to become a member, get involved and learn more about a food justice organization supporting Oakland’s communities, youth, and environment! For more information contact tori@foodcommunityculture.org or give us a call at (510) 482-1898 </p> <p> Last but not least, <b>SATURDAYS</b> (Year Round!) from <b>10am-2pm</b> at <b>4173 Macarthur Blvd</b> in the parking lot of the Laurel Office Center is the <b>Oakland Community Farmers’ Market!</b> Come by and support local farmers, youth-run businesses and the Laurel district community. <br /> <b>Special Events:</b> <br /> <b>May 2nd</b> Grand grand opening of Trattoria Laurellinos, our neighbor and local restaurant in the Laurel. <br /> <b>May 9th</b> Local DJ Daniel Zarazua will be with us at the market playing some jams! <br /> <bMay 16th</b> Musician Earl Rivard will be joining us at the market—come by and hear some great tunes! <br /> If you are interested in playing music at the market, contact us! We are always looking for musicians and performers! Contact Tori at tori@foodcommunityculture.org or by phone at (510) 482-1898. </p> <br /> <p> Thank you to everyone for your continued support! It’s up to all of us to keep the food justice movement going and we must thank our community for being supportive of our efforts and our programs. If anyone has any questions, concerns, comments or wants to find out how they can get involved, feel free to call or email me at tori@foodcommunityculture.org or (510) 482-1898. Food justice for all! </p> <br /> <p> Best wishes, </p> <p> Tori Lanterman <br /> Programs Coordinator <br /> Oakland Food Connection <br /> tori@foodcommunityculture.org <br /> (510) 482-1898 <br /> <p> </p></font>
