Local Food Justice Event Idea List

	A	B	C	D
1	Type of Event	Possible Titles for Event	Description of Event	Event Discussions or Activity Ideas

2	Virtual meeting open to all in the community to get people’s perspectives on the local food systems	Local Food Talk - Discussion About How We Can Make Our Food Systems More Just, Sustainable, Earth-Friendly, and Healthy?	Join your local community members for this important discussion in person or on Zoom. While we have one of the world's most productive and efficient food systems, millions of people in the US still fall between the cracks and suffer the health effects of foods low in nutrition and the health effects of these types of diets.	Discussion questions for the event: - Is the best way to improve access to nutritious food through efforts like strengthening our school nutrition programs and food assistance for low-income families, as well as improving access to fresh food in rural and low-income communities? - Should we be paying more attention to the multiple benefits of food, raising public awareness about the parts of the food system, and avoiding food advertising? - Is our lack of attention and care to the food system the cause, meaning should we be preserving our natural resources, choosing sustainable methods of production, and strengthening the food-system workforce?
3	Local Garden Swap and Informal Poll of Neighbors	Local Gardening Swap	Stop and Swap: Seeds, Plants, Veggies, Fruits, Flowers and More! Too many zucchinis? Lots of cut flowers? Are succulents getting too big? Are you having fruits and veggies galore? Ordered too many radish seeds? Whatever you have extra may be just what a neighbor would like to try in their garden! Bring your garden's extras to share with other gardeners in the community. Everything is free - even gardening advice from neighbors in the community!	Hold an in-person event at a local school or library to host a fun garden swap while taking a quick poll of local food justice perspectives of people that live in the neighborhood
4	Food Waste Prevention Week/Month	Food Waste Prevention Event	Let's come together for a fun event, full of activities for the entire family. Food Waste Prevention Week is an action-packed week, full of fun activities to raise awareness and inspire everyone to lessen food waste at home, at work, and in our communities. And as an added benefit you can save money too!	Activities: Plant & Seed Giveaway Guided Food Forest & Butterfly Garden Nature Tours Live Chef Demonstration Free Hands-on Activities & Workshops Bring your Food Scraps for Compost Drop-Off Games, Music, and Food
5	Community Food Event	Event Name: Eating, Thinking, and Drinking	Great things happen when we bring people together to enjoy Eating, Thinking, and Drinking together! We learn, share, and gather inspiration from the thoughtful conversations over the table. [Our group/org] was developed by ______ in response to the need to discuss important local food issues with the community. The _______ aims to build and engage a larger network of our multi-generational consumers and create new opportunities to learn about our local foods systems and who is growing those foods locally. The goal of [Our group/org] is to find and develop areas of common interests and common ground – to increase awareness and support of local farmers, a stronger local food system, and consumer demand for new products from these ingredients to show new and future next generations of the community. (possible collaboration with schools, farmers, local specialty food shops, breweries, restaurants, caterers, farmer’s market organizers, and local markets with fresh food options) TAGS #food #agriculture #holiday #farm #foodwaste #localcity,state, region	Community meals - come together to bond over food and better understand each other’s backgrounds and foods A native American meal with a theme Hold an event for volunteers that worked together during the year Farm-to-table to highlight a local farm or farms Give back - donation-based dinner fund Charcuterie party themes Color code - everyone has to bring a different color food item. Ethnic meal events Food demonstrations with local foods - use a theme Black history month Harvest season Low-waste purchases and meal prep How to cook with new-to-you vegetables
6	Speaker event of organizations that are successfully providing solutions or are helping to eliminate food waste in their communities. [hold the event virtually if there are not local organizations that are successfully doing this now in your community]	Food Solutions with Community: Innovations in Reducing and Preventing Food Waste	One-third of all food produced in the US is wasted, ultimately becoming a larger contributor to greenhouse gases than the airline industry – at the same time, over 25 million Americans often don’t get enough to eat. Join us for a discussion on how innovative organizations are using technology to provide solutions that eliminate waste, distribute food to those in need and create more sustainable food systems.	Examples of sustainable organizations: Goodr https://goodr.co/ FOOD WASTE SOLUTIONS We offer an end-to-end solution that helps businesses create impact. We’ll pick up your edible food waste and donate it to a local non-profit to meet the greatest need. Plus you’ll save money through tax deductions. We also work with certified organic waste haulers to recycle inedible food items. If you’re looking to streamline your entire waste management, we can help with that too. Retaaza https://www.retaaza.com/ We are a social enterprise that strives to make local food more accessible and affordable, directly supports our communities’ farmers, reconnects consumers to their food, and feeds families struggling with food insecurity.
7	Host a Focus Group to Discuss Local Food Systems and How to Make them More Secure, Just, and Equitable in your community	Local Group Chat - What do You Think About Local Food Systems -The Good, the Bad, and the Hungry
8	Host a Local Farm Tour	Local Farm Tour!		Inspiring and educating about the organic and local food movements. • Visiting vegetable gardens, rows of vibrant rose bushes, fruit orchards, and flock of heritage breed of poultry • The “farm-to-table” trend really comes to life with meals straight from the field where all ingredients are grown organically and free of any synthetic chemicals. • Take a hayride and visit a pumpkin patch. • Meander through the beautiful blossoms in the main garden • Stunning sunflowers for beautiful photo ops. • Petting Farm to feed sheep, goats, chickens, pigs, ponies, and even a few llamas • Tour the cheese kitchen and milking parlor – a cheese tasting • Learning about environmentally friendly, regenerative farms that produce pastured eggs and poultry, and grass-fed beef • Pumpkin picking, apple picking, a corn maze, a hayride, games • Aquaponics farm uses vertical growing techniques to not only produce fresh veggies but also to raise tilapia fish. • get a cowboy experience and an up-close look at ranch life • Horseback riding, fishing, and bird watching along the trails. • Goat yoga
9	Learn about an app that helps the community use food waste solutions	What's App, I'm Hungry!, Olio	Do a presentation of local apps that can be used to prevent food waste. If there are enough local people that want to share food that would have gone to waste with others in the community, this can make a great resource for all.	Goodr https://goodr.co/ FOOD WASTE SOLUTIONS We offer an end-to-end solution that helps businesses create impact. We’ll pick up your edible food waste and donate it to a local non-profit to meet the greatest need. Plus you’ll save money through tax deductions. We also work with certified organic waste haulers to recycle inedible food items. If you’re looking to streamline your entire waste management, we can help with that too. Retaaza https://www.retaaza.com/ We are a social enterprise that strives to make local food more accessible and affordable, directly supports our communities’ farmers, reconnects consumers to their food, and feeds families struggling with food insecurity. Olio - https://olioex.com/ OLIO connects neighbours with each other and with local businesses so surplus food can be shared, not thrown away. This could be food nearing its sell-by date in local stores, spare home-grown vegetables, bread from your baker, or the groceries in your fridge when you go away. For your convenience, OLIO can also be used for non-food household items, too. Here at OLIO we believe that small actions can lead to big change. Collectively – one rescued cupcake, carrot or bottle of lotion at a time – we can build a more sustainable future where our most precious resources are shared, not thrown away. But could something like this happen in the US? Unless there is a large movement to enact changes in legislation, it would be difficult to follow this model. Unlike in France, where laws have been passed that prohibit restaurants and markets from throwing out unsold food, the U.S. has stricter laws and picky consumers. But if we collectively demand a different model and use our purchasing power to change these business dynamics we could implement some similar practices and lower food waste. Doing so would save us all money, reduce the damage being done to the planet, and prevent people from going hungry. So, what are we waiting for? Waste No Food org https://wastenofood.org/ Diverting Excess Food to Hungry People Waste No Food empowers groups with perishable resources to donate to charities serving the needy. We help cut waste and build resilient and flourishing communities.
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