Harvesting Justice achieves inspiration

On my fifth day in the Bay Area, I was scheduled to attend a communications workshop downtown. I rode BART across the Bay, found my way to the building, and signed in, noting that one of the other names on the sign-in sheet was Carina Wong, Executive Director of the Chez Panisse Foundation.

It was only later, when a woman came into the room and made her way around the table to sit next to me, that I started panicking. I had, through process of elimination, figured out that I was sitting next to Carina, and was, at that moment, completely overwhelmed. I had moved out to California for the foodiness of it all, for sure, but to be this close to someone associated with one of its luminaries? This was not at all what I had expected when I woke up that morning on my air mattress in my belongings-free apartment.

It took me an hour, but I finally figured out how to talk to her. I tried, “Hi. I’m Genie.” Amazingly? This ACTUALLY WORKED. It helped that we’d been grouped together in an activity, but this is neither here nor there.

Later in the day, we started talking about Oakland, and I brought up my blog, and she told me she was on the board of People’s Grocery, which has been working tirelessly to get healthy, fresh food to West Oakland. West Oakland has 53 liquor stores and 14 fast-food outlets, but no grocery stores, which means that mostly low-income population is suffering a tremendous health burden.

“We’re having a fundraiser brunch in September,” she said. “I’d like you to come as my guest.”

Harvesting Justice
Today, I walked into the Scottish Rite Temple, which overlooks Lake Merritt, and joined hundreds of people celebrating the work of People’s Grocery. The Loose Change Jazz Band played in the lobby while attendees drank coffee and tea and mingled. The Destiny Arts dance group performed during the main program. And speakers, including People’s Grocery co-founder Brahm Ahmadi, Michael Pollan, and youth who work with the program, talked about the amazing work this small, grassroots organization is doing.

“When Cheetos are breakfast for thousands of people, and it’s easier to buy a gun than a tomato, it’s time for change,” Amadi said, as the attendees of the 6th annual Harvesting Justice brunch ate a plate of food almost entirely supplied by People’s Grocery greenhouses and farmland.

Jennifer Copto and Tevah El Emmet (aka “Virtuous”) spoke on behalf of the organization’s Youth Leaders, talking about how their experience has changed their thinking on food access in the area.

“I didn’t know in Oakland urban agriculture could happen and we could grow stuff here,” Copto said.

“Just to eat a tomato like an apple is something different. And now I like it, and that’s good,” Virtuous said. “I appreciate this organization. It’s one of the few organizations that actually stays true to the community and its mission statement.”

The group brought in Michael Pollan to not just talk about his vision for food access in America, but to do the actual fundraising ask. The organization is implementing multi-year giving circles, and he offered a signed copy of one of his books to anyone who joined one.

Inspiration achieved
I left inspired and excited to have found the community I’m becoming part of here in Oakland: a community that values food, but also recognizes the critical need for fair access, no matter what neighborhood we’re talking about.

I’m hoping the inspiration will carry me through this week. Starting tomorrow, I’m going to be doing an experiment which will play out in this space starting late this week. I went grocery shopping for the week today with $21, the amount of the maximum weekly food stamp benefit for a single person. I’ll be subsisting on that food all week long—no freebies, no cheat dinners out. I’ll start writing about it late this week, and it will be the focus of the blog during the week of September 21-27.

September is Hunger Action Month, and this is my effort to help raise awareness of hunger and the state of food systems in this area. So stay tuned…I’ve already started to learn some hard lessons, and I’m looking forward to sharing them with you.