A guy named Edwin who went to school out West, fell in love with farming and then planted seeds in the forgotten soil of the urban food desert that is Birmingham, Alabama is an inspiring story. The fact that Edwin had the wherewithal to hire a teaching director and incorporate education into his farm validates the community-mindedness and life-changing intentions of this project. It is a noble project.
Today I met with a woman named Gay who had headed up food service at Middlebury’s local elementary school. She told me about the lessons she likes to do, and what helps the kids try new foods, and she had been working for ten years trying to help kids learn about healthy food and give kids the best she could in her lunches.
But she was getting tired. She was tired of watching her pay decline as her tenure increased and watching her assistants leave her for better-paying jobs. She was limited by money in a real way—she was not short in experience, creativity, expertise or motivation, and she gave it ten years and she’s losing all of that because she’s been at it for so long.
She described to me the fact that most of the kids in her school system start with her at kindergarten and have seven years with her. She sees it as a huge opportunity to give kids an education they need more than anything.
I was able to have a really meaningful conversation with her because I had been fully informed on this issue not three days before on our 5th day to NOFA-VT, Shelburne Farms and VT-FEED. She pointed to those groups as doing seriously fantastic work and she needed them to keep her in the game. Nonprofits are important in themselves for the work they do but the support they offer for policy reform and to workers on the ground is that much more vital.
I am now interested in how the business I’m involved with can speak for under-appreciated and under-funded and under-paid food service staff in public schools. School kitchens are where change can and will take place. It’s just about electing officials who are smart enough to give them the money.
I like this profile of Gay, Charlie, and the way you connect it to the fascinating insights from our recent Fifth Day. As you say, one of the important aspects of initiatives like FEED is to support valuable teachers and cooks in the schools who often feel undermined and underappreciated. To look for ways to reinforce her efforts with your own interesting initiative is a highly valuable response. As in the Center for a New Agricultural Economy in Hardwick, idealistic and like-minded people can advance together.