Event Calls on the Community to Support Healthy Food and Family Farms in Weld County
Food & Water Watch, in partnership with Deb Newsom of D & H Farms and The Unitarian Universalist Church of Greeley, are hosting a free showing of the film Food Stamped – a documentary about a couple attempting to eat healthy on a food stamp budget. This event is a fund raiser for the Weld Food Bank and part of the Fair Farm Bill Road Trip – a month of activities across 20 states to educate consumers about how the federal Farm Bill impacts us all.
From low-income families who need food stamps to survive, to midsized family farmers struggling to stay in business, to shoppers who deserve healthier food choices, everyone has the right to safe, healthy, affordable food that supports independent farmers and producers, but to restore this balance, “voting with our forks” is not enough. We need a fair Farm Bill.
Who: Food & Water Watch, Deb Newsom of D & H Farms, and The Unitarian Universalist Church of Greeley are hosting the event.
What: Free Showing of the Film Food Stamped. This is a fund raiser for the Weld Food Bank. Food donations requested, but not required. More information about the film can be found here: http://www.foodstamped.com
Where: Unitarian Universalist Church of Greeley 929 15th Street Greeley, CO 80631
When: Friday, August 26 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Interviews available: A representative from Food & Water Watch will answer questions about the Farm Bill. Deb Newsom of D and H Farms will discuss her CSA. Jessica Barczewski from the Weld Food Bank will tell us about food insecurity and the importance of small local farms to the Food Bank. A recipient of food stamps, will speak about her personal experience. Charlotte Hardgrave past co-president of Greeley Interfaith will talk briefly about how preserving food can play a role in helping small local farms stay in business and share resources on how to preserve your own food.
Background: The Farm Bill determines how food reaches our plates: how it’s grown, processed and distributed and who has access to safe, healthy, affordable food. Congress works on the Farm Bill every 5 years and the bill presents a crucial opportunity to create a fairer, safer and more sustainable food system. The 2008 Farm Bill made some progress towards this vision, but lots of these programs and policies must be defended in 2012 when the next Farm Bill is debated. And more must be done to level the playing field for small and medium-sized farmers, increase access to healthy food, and create fair markets for local farmers. For more information about the Farm Bill, visit http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/farm-bill-2012/.
In 2008, 17 million households, 14.6 percent of households (approximately one in seven), were food insecure, the highest number ever recorded in the United States. The Food Stamp Program, the nation’s most important anti-hunger program, helps roughly 40 million low-income Americans to afford a nutritionally adequate diet. More than 75 percent of all food stamp participants are in families with children; nearly one-third of participants are elderly people or people with disabilities.
For more information contact: Hollis Berendt 970-590-3289 or HollisSellsHomes@comcast.
Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control. www.foodandwaterwatch.org
