Let’s grow the Good Food Revolution

December 23, 2009 | Author: Will Allen |

Dear Friends,

As we approach the end of the year, we look forward to sitting down with our families and friends to enjoy a wonderful holiday meal. Unfortunately, many in our local communities will not have this abundant meal. A recent government report indicates that one in six of our citizens are hungry. Our current industrial food system uses almost 25% of our resources to produce and deliver food from far away farms into our communities. Our school youth are often served unhealthy meals. All in all, much of the food we eat lacks the nutrients that we need to sustain ourselves. It is time for us to fix our broken food system. Fortunately, eighty-five percent of us are already calling to rebuild our Local Food Systems. However… WE MUST ALL GO INTO ACTION NOW!

In 2009, Growing Power has made great strides in rebuilding our local food system. We farmed over 40 acres of land in Milwaukee and Chicago, we trained over 500 small farm producers throughout the U.S. in our training programs, we worked with over 1,000 youth to engage them in the local food system, we added solar panels to power our greenhouses, we delivered food to our large Milwaukee Public Schools food system—food that was grown in the same City of Milwaukee, and we distributed food to local restaurants, stores, cafeterias, hospitals, and to people’s homes via our Farm-to-City Market Basket CSA Program. Take a look at the highlights included with this letter to read more about Growing Power’s 2009 accomplishments.

In 2010 we must build upon this great work to scale up our Good Food System. We must grow more farmers through our training programs. We must introduce our youth, from birth onward, to sustainably and locally grown food with all of its nutritional value. We must grow more soil (compost) from the waste that is now going to the landfills. We must grow energy with the use of biofuels (using our anaerobic digester), wind, and solar technology. We must plant more acres in the city—over 100—to make Good Food available every day to every one of our citizens. We must grow food year-round like we have been doing at Growing Power for years.

To reach these goals in 2010, we need your help! Help us by donating what you can. We are all in this together. Let’s grow the Good Food Revolution that is already underway.

Thank you for your support!

p/s: help us with our wish list. www.growingpower.org/wishlist

Amazon.com Wish List

Sincerely,

Will Allen
Farmer, Founder, and CEO of Growing Power
“The Good Food Movement is now a Revolution”

OVER 10,000 Visitors, 2,000 Volunteers, 500 beginning farmers trained, over 1000 youths trained, 12 new corporate partnerships, installed 10Kw Solar Energy, 8 Weekend long Workshops, 12 million pounds of waste composted, 10 million pounds of new soil produced, enough food grown to feed 10,000 people, 50 acres of new urban farmland acquired, 100,000 fish, 20 baby goats and millions of red wriggler worms.

Outreach Training

Young People’s Project (Mississippi), Breaking New Grounds (Louisville, KY), Seven Harvest (Forest City, AR), Feed Denver (Denver,CO), Grow Youngstown (Buffalo, NY), MEGA (Mississippi), Women’s Environmental Institute (Minnesota), Shawne Bryant (Suffolk, VA)
Corporate Partnership Growing Power continues to work with corporations such as: Kohl’s Corporation, Rockwell Automation, Aurora Sinai, M&I Bank, Northwestern Mutual Life, Johnson Controls, Brady Corporation, Froedtert Hospital, Aurora Sinai Downtown, SC Johnson and Discovery World.

Compost Collection

Over 12 million pounds of food waste per year. From brewery waste to cafeteria waste, Growing Power collects over 12 million pounds of waste from the Milwaukee Area. Waste diverted from landfills: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Rishi Tea, Lakefront Brewery, Café Manna, Tropic Banana, Rockwell Automation, Outpost Foods, Stone Creek Coffee, Kohls Corporation, Maglio, Northwestern Mutual, Alterra Coffee, City of Milwaukee.
Community Garden Installations Catholic Charities, Washington Park (over 40 homes), Maple Tree School Community Garden, “Mayor’s Victory Garden” – Growing Power transformed the flower gardens at Milwaukee City Hall to grow vegetables by employing youths and donating the harvest to food pantries, making Milwaukee the fourth city in the nation with a garden at city hall.

Projects

Forest Home Cemetery

Growing Power is leasing the Forest Home Cemetery Greenhouses to accommodate increased production of micro-greens and sprouts.

Milwaukee Public Schools Farm-to-School program Growing Power is providing healthy and locally grown produce to14 MPS elementary schools. This pilot project is the precursor to a citywide “farm-to-school” meal program that will procure as much locally grown produce from Growing Power as possible for the 90,000 meals served a day to all MPS students. Growing Power will partner with MPS, Sysco (food distributor) and Johnson Controls to use renewable energy technologies to grow food in the future.
Growing Spaces Green Garage: Rooftop garden and urban agriculture training site for the immediate community. Growing Power trained Bradley Tech Construction Academy 5 days/week for 20 weeks to help maintain the rooftop garden and green garage. Wages will be provided by Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board.

Badger School Project: In partnership with the Center for Resilient Cities and the Madison Area Community Land Trust, Growing Power is a project partner in building an urban agriculture and sustainable gardening practices in an area that is in need of locally grown food.

New Local Markets in 2009: Aurora Sinai, Rockwell Automation, Kohl’s Corporation, Martin Luther King Drive, Corner Store Project, Discovery World, West Town Farmers Market

MEDIA
TV Appearances: CNN-The Solutions, Sundance Channel, PBS Retirement Revolution Movies: Fresh! The Movie Magazine: Oprah Magazine, New York Times Magazine, Outpost Exchange Magazine, Ebony Magazine, Yes! Magazine Newspapers: over 200 printed newspapers and websites, namely New York Times, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Boston Globe, and many more.

Chicago Growing Power:
Served 150 youths , produced 4 tons of food from 3 ¼ acres of land, composted over 50,000 pounds of food waste diverted from landfills, created 5 new farmers market locations, hired first full time employee from Youth Corps Program Chicago, worked with over 1000 volunteers

Will Allen highlights in 2009
Awards 2009 National Governors Association Distinguished Service to State Government Award; 2009 Frank Kirpatrick Award; Greater Milwaukee Foundation; Growing Green Awards 2009 Natural Resources Defense Council; 2009 WHY – Chapin Award Honoree; 2009 Heritage Award 29th Annual State of Wisconsin Tribute & Ceremony honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.;
2009 Milwaukee Times’ 24th Black Excellence Award; 2009 Lincoln Gaines Award

Recognition Fast Company 100 Most Creative People, Ebony Magazine Power 150, Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board, Inc. and the City of Milwaukee—participation in the Summer Earn and Lean Program 2009, City of Goldsboro (NC) Proclamation of “Will Allen Appreciation Day” on November 9, 2009 -by Alfonzo King Mayor of the City of Goldsboro

Conferences/Speaking Engagements Will Allen attended national and international conferences in the Netherlands, NSI Symposium (Davie, FL), Milwaukee Public Museum (Milwaukee, WI), American Corn Growers Conference (Coralville, IA), Stan Hywet Hall and Garden (Akron, OH), Kellogg Conference (San Jose, CA), Southern SAWG Conference (Chattanooga, TN), Virginia Biological Farming Conference (Richmond, VA), TFN Annual Conference (Miami, FL), Georgia Organic Conference, NOFA Conference (Mass), America’s Planners Association Conference (Minneapolis, MN), Friends of Ryerson Woods Symposium (Illinois), Great Kids Farm (Baltimore,MD), American Horticultural Society (Cleaveland, OH), Wisconsin Book Festival (Madison, WI) ,Green Town Conference(Chicago, IL), Connecticut Forum (Hartford,CT), Bioneers by the Bay (New Bradford, MA), Pop Tech Conference (Candem,ME), Center for Environment Farming (Goldsboro, NC), Small Farm Family Conference (Richmond, VA) , WI Sustainable Council Conference (Milwaukee, WI) Universities: Yale University, UW Stevens Point, Columbia College, Santa Monica College, Marquette University, Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE)
Will Allen was invited by the Global Clinton Initiative in September 2009

“This guy’s my hero. He does urban gardens in America.”
– Bill Clinton, introducing Will Allen during the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting 2009. Growing Power’s international commitment was chosen to be highlighted during the closing plenary of the CGI Meeting.