[cgfc] CGFC's Weekly Bytes, Vol.1, #8

[Lisa BK]

GREETINGS!

Welcome to Common Ground Food Co-op's weekly (for now) e-newsletter! You're 
getting this 
missive because you're a member of Common Ground who's also signed up to be 
on the CGFC 
mailing list. If you aren't interested in receiving these updates, please 
email 
commongroundfoodcoop at gmail.com. A paper version is posted on the bulletin 
board in the 
store.

Every week, via this transmission, members are provided with store 
updates/news, links to 
relevant news items/political actions, and other bits and pieces worthy of 
mention. If you 
have anything of a similar bent you think members should know about, please 
email links to 
commongroundfoodcoop at gmail.com. Thanks!



STORE/LOCAL NEWS:

****Only two More Urbana Farmers' Markets left for us! CGFC's scheduled to 
appear every 
Saturday in September. If you're interested in taking a shift at our 
centrally-located/often 
stopped-at booth, please email Lisa at the address above. Thanks!

****In Case You Missed it:"Common Ground Food Co-op is collecting aid to 
send to Hurricane 
Katrina victims.

We will be sending money to Second Harvest, which is the national network of 
food banks in 
the US. Second Harvest is coordinating millions of pounds of food aid which 
they are 
trucking down to the areas in need so that people can eat.

They have established a special "Hurricane Katrina" fund and will use 100% 
of money 
collected to get food to people in need. They have requested monetary 
donations to 
facilitate the transportation of food from food banks and grocery stores 
across the country 
down to the areas in need. They have set up a warehouse in the Baton Rouge, 
LA to act as 
their Emergency Operations Center and to receive and distribute food.

Please consider donating to help people in this severe national crisis.

For more information on Second Harvest's efforts, please see their website 
at

www.secondharvest.org <http://www.secondharvest.org> or call their Chicago 
office at 1-800-771-2303 x207.

If you want to donate via the store, we're collecting money at the register. 
If you'd rather 
donate over the phone or online, please contact Second Harvest directly.

Second Harvest's latest press release is here:
http://www.secondharvest.org/site_content.asp?s=742.

Thanks." 


EVENTS OF INTEREST:

****CGFC/OXFAM EVENT ALERT!!!!!****

Farming in other countries: A West African perspective

Farm and trade policies in the United States and European Union are creating 
hardships for 
family farmers across the world. In particular, agricultural subsidies 
hamper efforts to 
reduce poverty in poor countries, while undermining rural life here in the 
US. 
Due to a traveling snafu, our scheduled speaker for this event has changed. 
Here's the 
biography of the substitute speaker, also brought in by Oxfam:

Issa Daou and his nine siblings grew up on a farm in Koutiala, the biggest 
cotton producing 
region in Mali, where his father still maintains the family farm. After 
obtaining a 
veterinary technician degree, Mr. Daou worked for four years in Malian 
cotton factories: 
his work consisted of cleaning and baling cotton, as well as producing oil 
from cotton 
seeds. He eventually became an school teacher in the village of Tanjou where 
he taught 
agriculture and launched vegetable gardening projects with his students.


WHEN: Wednesday, September 14, 2005
WHERE: Common Ground Food Co-op
TIME: 7 pm

The talk will be in Bondurant Hall at the IDF, which is upstairs; 
refreshments will be 
provided. Hope to see you there!

****CANNING WORKSHOP/FUNDRAISER!!! Help get WRFU (Radio Free Urbana -
www.radiofreeurbana.org <http://www.radiofreeurbana.org>) on the air! Common 
Ground and Prairie Table are co-sponsoring a 
casual-but-productive fundraiser, and we need YOU to participate. If you've 
ever thought 
about preserving food but thought it would be too hard or (gulp!) too 
dangerous, please come 
hang out at the co-op this coming Sunday, September 18! We'll be in the 
church kitchen, 
canning tomatoes and roasting peppers and who knows what else from 
noon-7PM.. Bring jars if 
you have 'em, bring a water bath canner if you have one, and bring a few 
dollars if you 
want to take home a few jars! All proceeds (and food canned) will go toward 
getting WRFU on 
the air - the locally-sourced canned food will be used as part of a larger 
fundraiser for the station later 
this fall. Questions? Email Lisa at lisabk at gmail.com.



INFO OF INTEREST:

**** Great article in the September/October issue of Orion regarding 
low-income access to 
local, organic food. The article is not online; I'll have a copy of the 
article in the store 
on the resource table between the freezer and the bulk cereals.

**** Cool piece in Utne magazine about "guerilla grocers":

http://www.utne.com/pub/2005_131/view/11751-1.html

You have to pay for the article, but if someone wants to read it under the 
table, I have 
article text I can email. Contact me at lisabk at gmail.com!


**** The person who wrote the above article works here:

http://renewingthecountryside.org/content/blogcategory/69/45/

Looks pretty cool.

****"The Center for Informed Food Choices (CIFC) advocates for a diet based 
on whole, 
unprocessed, local, organically grown plant foods. CIFC believes that: 
placing these foods 
at the center of the plate is crucial for promoting public health, 
protecting the 
environment, and assuring the humane treatment of animals and food industry 
workers.
Connecting the personal to the political, CIFC educates the public about how 
our industrial 
food system, along with corporate-influenced government policies, is the 
root cause of a 
host of preventable public health, environmental, and social justice 
problems.
CIFC believes that making personal dietary improvements is just one 
component of social 
change. We advocate for social and political reforms that will support 
people in making 
healthy food choices over the long term, as well as in creating a more just, 
humane, and 
sustainable food system." Find them here:

http://www.informedeating.org/

**** Nothing better than kids discovering Swiss chard... and liking it!

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/brooklyn/nyc-nyskul044411428sep04,0,4861263.story



Please feel free to forward these links to people you think might benefit 
from such 
knowledge.

Thanks and look for #9 same time (more or less) next week!



::compiled by Outreach Co-coordinator Lisa Bralts-Kelly::
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