Free food distribution to feed those in need in Gulfport - WXXV News 25

Today in Gulfport, multiple local organizations came together to feed those in need.

At the Goldin Sports Complex in Orange Grove, Gulfport residents started lining up, securing their spot to ensure they received a free food box. Dorothy Travis arrived two hours prior to the scheduled food distribution time. “I’ve called several people to get in line. I also got some to pick up and deliver to some elderly people that I pick up and deal with on a regular basis.”

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Travis picked up eight boxes, seven for seniors she knew and one for herself. “I’m going to always be there to help who I can help because that’s what God got us out here for. We’re sisters and brothers in Jesus Christ.”

Each of the 400 food boxes included chicken, milk, cheese, potatoes, apples, sour cream and cabbage. Food was provided by Feeding the Gulf Coast and United Way.

It keeps happening over and over again. People are getting boxes of food to deliver to seniors in the community. There’s a need to feed those who are sick and shut in and who are unable to get out and grab food themselves.

Food wasn’t the only item handed out for free. Programs from the Mississippi Public Health Institute and their ‘Healthy Families, Mothers, and Babies Initiative’ gave out information about health disparities for African-American mothers. Program Manager Shakeizia Jones said, “Thought that we should definitely work together because the more collaborative work that’s able to be done, the more impact it is to the community.”

The collaboration of different organizations helps identify what the community needs. Karisma Slusher with Feeding the Gulf Coast said, “I don’t think we get to certain areas enough and just working with different partnerships and people in the community they know the area. So, being able to come out here and serve them, it’s just really helpful to hit the areas that we don’t hit as often.”

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Q&A: The Rev. Nurya Love Parish on food, faith, church-owned land and the future - Episcopal News Service

The Rev. Nurya Love Parish is rector of Holy Spirit Episcopal Church and executive director of Plainsong Farm & Ministry, both located in the Diocese of Western Michigan. Photo: Rachael Holt

[Episcopal News Service] Start talking with Episcopalians about food and faith or reading about new ways to worship, and the Rev. Nurya Love Parish’s name is likely to come up. She’s written the book “Resurrection Matters” and been interviewed by Civil Eats, and she imagined her own Good News Gardens program last year almost simultaneously with The Episcopal Church’s.

Love Parish, who grew up questioning the ecological wisdom of her Las Vegas, Nevada, home, began her ministry career in the Unitarian Universalist church. In 1997, that work took her to Michigan, where she’s lived since. An Episcopal priest since 2011, she’s rector at Holy Spirit Episcopal Church in Belmont and executive director of Plainsong Farm & Ministry in Rockford, which she co-founded in 2015 with Bethany and Mike Edwardson—Bethany serves as artist-in-residence, Mike is farm manager.

Located in the Diocese of Western Michigan, Plainsong Farm & Ministry serves as a nexus of sustainable agriculture and Christianity. Its offerings include a community supported agriculture program, a young adult cohort and monthly worship (currently suspended due to the pandemic). It’s also home to ChurchLands, an initiative dedicated to mapping The Episcopal Church’s properties and encouraging people to think about them with sustainability in mind.

“We struggle in America to articulate a Christianity that is about ecology, justice and health,” Love Parish told Episcopal News Service. “I hope the Christian food movement can help the wider public recognize that Christianity can be about these things.”

The rest of ENS’ interview with Love Parish has been condensed and edited into the Q&A below.

ENS: Is your work what you imagined it would be when you were younger and thinking of your career ahead of you?

Love Parish: No. It started to be my vision in the early 2000s. By then, I had read Wendell Berry, and I knew that there was something that hadn’t happened yet with agriculture and Christianity in the contemporary world. I didn’t know what it was, but I felt like there was a gap there, and it was interesting.

ENS: What do people need to know about Plainsong Farm to be able to picture it in their minds?

Love Parish: My husband and I bought the house that is where Plainsong Farm is now in 2001. It’s now 12 acres, two houses, two big barns and a repurposed chicken coop. Before I met Mike and Bethany, it had become clear to me that God was calling me to begin a farm-based ministry. It had also become clear to me that my husband and I were not the farmers. Mike and Bethany hoped to start a farm that would connect them to the church, and Mike wanted to be the farmer. I was always clear that the ministry would be connected to The Episcopal Church, and also that it would be ecumenical. And a lot of the things I imagined would happen have happened. I thought, ‘Maybe someday we could have a young adult program.’ Well, we have one. ‘Maybe someday we could have a community of discipleship that gathers outside.’ We have that. ‘Maybe someday we could have an impact on The Episcopal Church’s use of land, and how The Episcopal Church sees land.’ We’re doing that.

ENS: Demographically, who is drawn to Plainsong Farm & Ministry?

Love Parish: It’s the youngest average age I’ve seen in 20-something years of ministry. We’re also pretty white. People descended from European settlers who aren’t actively engaged in agriculture often romanticize it. I hope that what we are doing will get people in touch with the realities of eating food.

ENS: Some years ago you asked yourself if there was a Christian food movement. How do you answer that question today?

Love Parish: I first asked that question in response to Nigel Savage’s comment in 2014 relating to the Jewish food movement and how many hits it had on Google, and how few hits the Christian food movement had. I thought, ‘I know there’s a Christian food movement.’ Back then, it was small enough that I thought I could put it in a PDF guide and keep it updated. That is not true anymore.

ENS: How do you describe the movement?

Love Parish: It’s people who are integrating discipleship, ecology, justice and health through food and agriculture. A lot of Christians—including the ones at the church that I serve—want to feed people, because Jesus tells us to feed people. The invitation of the Christian food movement is for all Christians to consider how our feeding ministries can also serve the health of people and planet. Younger generations recognize that the health of people and planet are the same. When they can practice that as a life of faith, that’s intriguing. So I think this is going to grow.

ENS: How did ChurchLands come to be?

Love Parish: In 2018 Plainsong Farm, with some funding from The Episcopal Church, worked with the Greenhorns to create what I think was the first gathering of land access professionals and religious leaders. And we identified a need for ongoing work in the area on an interfaith basis. In 2020, ChurchLands hosted a cohort for Episcopalians, integrating Bible study and action learning goals, with education about The Episcopal Church’s history around land and future possibilities around land. That cohort experience is one side of ChurchLands.

The other side is inventory and mapping work. At that initial gathering of religious leaders and land access professionals, I realized that I didn’t think The Episcopal Church knew what land it had. So I proposed resolution D053 to General Convention in 2018. I thought that Church Insurance would have information about The Episcopal Church’s land, but they don’t. Ultimately, the responsibility of finding that information came back to me. By then, I had met Emma Lietz Bilecky, and she had an interest in land and ministry and understood GIS [geographic information system software] and mapping. Last year, we did a pilot project helping dioceses in Arkansas, Indiana and Washington state understand their landholdings using public data. We learned that there’s a need for more work in this area, because Christianity has not appropriately valued and honored land.

ENS: How does this movement fit into the culture of The Episcopal Church right now?

Love Parish: Discipleship ministries that integrate food and agriculture have found a life in The Episcopal Church that seems to be more supported than in other denominations. A big part of that is the work of Jerusalem Greer and [the Rev.] Melanie Mullen, with the Good News Gardens program, and Brian Sellers-Petersen, who wrote “Harvesting Abundance.” Their work prepared people’s minds to understand that this is part of the work of discipleship. I anticipate that we will close a lot of churches in the next 20, 10 years. But because of the way we hold land, we will still—I hate to say it this way—own property. When congregations close, their properties will become available for new ministry. As the climate crisis worsens, the world will need centers for resilience, renewal, hope and action, and I don’t know why our church properties can’t be that. That includes agriculture, but it also includes biodiversity preservation, and it includes a shift in our culture as humans, and how we see our place in creation. God didn’t make us to be destroyers. God made us to be tenders of life.

– Heather Beasley Doyle is a freelance journalist, writer and editor based in Massachusetts.

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BRYAN COUNTY NEWS: Food will win the war - Sherman Denison Herald Democrat

Food Pantry Launches Campaign to Stock Up for Summer - NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Dallas

Food Pantry Launches Campaign to Stock Up for Summer

The goal for Wilkinson Center is 10 tons of food in 10 weeks

By Deborah Ferguson • Published 6 hours ago • Updated 1 hour ago

NBCUniversal, Inc.

The last few weeks of the school year will fly by and it will mean thousands of kids will lose access to healthy meals.

A food pantry in Dallas is getting ready now for a summer of fighting hunger.

Download our NBC DFW mobile app for Apple or Android to get alerts for local breaking news and weather.

"Throughout this whole year, we've been serving more people, and the food demand's been greater. So we, know this summer is really gonna be hard on families and that we're gonna need to be prepared," said Anne Reeder, executive director of Wilkinson Center.

Wilkinson Center

Wilkinson Center food pantry at 3402 N Buckner Blvd. in Dallas has seen record demand during the pandemic.

The nonprofit will launch its annual Stock up for Summer campaign on Monday, May 3, with the goal of collecting tons of food in 10 weeks to provide 10,000 meals a week. With the pandemic still impacting normal operations, Reeder hopes the community will step in to help.

"Anybody can do it. Anybody can get together at work, just do a little food drive, then drop it off at the pantry, It's very easy. Course, money. We love money. And we also have a wish list on Amazon. But we also would love to have volunteers. We're at the place where enough people have been vaccinated that we feel like we have volunteers back in the pantry again," Reeder said.

The Amazon donations are being delivered daily! Thank you so much for your generosity. Our current greatest needs are adult diapers, boost drinks, and children's foods. Support our Food Pantry today by shopping our Amazon Wish List here: https://t.co/6Q0NdeGUAH pic.twitter.com/ppXBxlKE7U

— Wilkinson Center (@WilkinsonCenter) April 2, 2020

The pandemic posed a huge challenge, but Wilkinson Center adjusted to continue serving a community in need of record help.

"It went from 6,455 food pantry clients to 8,537, so it was a huge jump," Reeder said. "We normally serve a 9-ZIP code area that's assigned to us by North Texas Food Bank but during this past year, we've served every ZIP code. We've served people from Tarrant County because nobody leaves our pantry hungry without food."

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Wilkinson Center opens its food pantry to students in its adult education and job training classes as well, and Reeder says the pandemic has hit those students especially hard.

"Two of the ZIP codes that have been hardest hit by COVID-19, 75211 and 75217, are where two of our largest adult education classes are," she said.

As the pandemic continues to impact families, Reeder notices another change: resilience in the men and women who come to Wilkinson Center.

"A lot of people have decided to go back to school. They have decided, 'I don't want to have a job where I can be laid off so easily. I want a job with a salary. I want a career,'" she explained. "One of the interesting things women are saying is, 'I want to get into IT or teaching,' because they have a new appreciation for teachers after all the COVID with their kids at home."

The nonprofit has a nearly 40-year-old resume of getting clients out of poverty by addressing significant issues: basic human necessities like food and shelter, education and employment.

Compassion, dignity and respect are hallmarks of an agency that wants to see its clients become self-sufficient. And it's in that vein that Reeder shares her worry about the future.

"I think right now, that people have gotten stimulus checks, some people have gotten unemployment, what we worry about is when that is over, what's going to happen? Because many of those who come to our pantry are working poor families. They are not sitting home. They are working. Mom and dad are working probably several jobs, trying to keep it all together to support their family, and then if one or both of them got laid off, there's no backup plan because it's very hard for families like that to have savings and a cushion," she explained.

Food Pantry Service

• Food Pantry Service hours are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday between 9:00 a.m. – noon; and Tuesday from – 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
• Wilkinson Center’s food pantry is serving families in vehicles and curb-side for walk-ups. We are asking all individuals to park in front of the pantry and remain in their vehicles to be served.
• We serve families living in the following zip codes: 75204, 75206, 75214, 75223, 75226, 75227, 75228, and 75246.
• The head of household will need to bring a picture ID and proof of address such as a utility bill or lease.
• If you need additional information or have questions, please call 972-284-0377.

• La despensa de alimentos de Wilkinson Center, está asistiendo a las familias de la manera siguente: En la acera o banqueta a quienes llegen caminando y a los que llegen en vehículos les solicitamos que se estacionen frente a la despensa y permanezcan en sus vehículos para ser atendidos.
• Servimos a familias que viven en los siguientes códigos postales: 75204, 75206, 75214, 75223, 75226, 75227, 75228 y 75246.
• El jefe de familia deberá presentar una identificación con foto y un comprobante de domicilio, que puede ser una factura de servicios públicos o un contrato de arrendamiento.
• Si tiene preguntas o necesita más información llame al 972-284-0377.

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Anonymous donor gives to local food band - Washington Daily News - thewashingtondailynews.com

Mouths have been dropping in amazement all over town as area outreach leaders and their helpers have gushed about the recent pleasure of using $1,900 from an anonymous donor to buy extra food for the clients of Eagles Wings Food Bank. 

“A gentleman dropped by a few weeks ago,” said Anne Marie Montague, executive director of Eagles Wings Food Bank. “He said ‘I just got my stimulus check, but I don’t need the money. What do you need?’ We asked his name, I promise you, but he repeatedly said ‘you don’t need my name. I’m doing this because it’s the right thing to do’. We were just amazed.”

Montague immediately introduced the man to Tyler Richman, operations manager at Eagles Wings. They made a list of items that run out quickly because they get chosen most often by the outreach’s clients. 

“He came back later with a truckload full of food and said ‘this is only $400 worth of stuff. I’ve still got more money to spend.’ It was like Christmas in July, but in April. That’s when I called Reggie at Food Lion,” Montague said. 

“He literally just walked in, paid for it, and said ‘see you later.’ Folks will give me $20 around the holidays and tell me to give it to someone who needs it. But that is by far and away the largest donation we’ve ever seen,” said Reggie Beamon, the store manager at the Food Lion where the bulk orders were sent by Eagles Wings staff. “He told me he wasn’t looking for recognition or to get his name out there. He was as quiet and secretive about it as anyone I’ve ever run into. That man is a rare, rare find.”

Montague said the two pallets of food were piled as high as she is tall.

“They were stacked with all the things we requested, all the items our people want and like and use. When you see all that being unloaded it’s unreal, amazing and beautiful,” Montague said. 

According to Montague, regulars who rely on Eagles Wings’ are grateful to this man for his contribution to the community. 

“That kind of care is beautiful, a wonderful aspect of our life in Beaufort County. I could live wherever I want to, but that’s what has kept this Yankee here for 32 years. That gentleman earned his wings and his halo,” Montague said. 

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On the rise: local home-based food businesses - Rochester City Newspaper

Like most bakers, Jon Olek starts his day long before sunrise.

He fires up his oven at 3:30 a.m. and bakes for three hours before setting out to deliver fresh scones, Danishes, and brioche buns to city cafes and shops.

“I get back right in time to go upstairs and help my daughter get ready for school,” he says, adding that he starts prepping for the next day’s baking when she leaves.

Olek has that flexibility in his schedule because he doesn’t work at a commercial bakery, but rather out of a commercial-grade kitchen he built in his basement, where he does business as Black Cat Baking Co.

His is one of hundreds of home-based food businesses in Monroe County whose ranks have exploded here and across the state since the onset of the pandemic, as hobbyists who were hunkered down at home turned their quarantine into an opportunity.

click to enlarge

• PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH
• Jon Olek of Black Cat Baking Co., seen here with a cinnamon roll, works from his basement commercial-grade kitchen to supply several area cafes and shops with home-made pastries.

Starting a home-based food business in New York requires applying for an exemption to licensing laws governing largescale food manufacturers. Last year, the state Department of Agriculture and Markets, which oversees the exemptions, saw applications jump 56 percent over the previous year, according to the agency.

Monroe County outpaced the state by a landslide, according to the agency, with applications from here doubling to 101 between April 2020 and March 2021 from 48 in the prior 12-month span.

Today, there are 374 home-based food processors in Monroe County — an increase of roughly 40 percent over last year. There are about 7,100 home-based food processors across the state.

The marked uptick should perhaps come as no surprise, with so many employees in the restaurant industry having been out of work and the prospect of starting a business from home with little overhead dangling in front of them like a carrot.

There is a wide array of foods that home-based food businesses can make in their home kitchens — from cookies to marmalades and popcorn to vegetable chips.

But bakers by far occupy the largest piece of the home-based food processing pie. Of the 101 new applications for licensing exemptions in Monroe County, 92 of them were from people who intended to make baked goods under company names like Baked with Love, Sweetology, and House of Schmouse. The rest were for candy, maple syrup, kettle corn, tea, and nuts.

So yeah, that “homemade” buttery, laminated pastry you’re enjoying with your morning coffee at your favorite cafe, or the cake that’s capping a dinner out, might have actually been made in someone’s home.

click to enlarge

• PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH
• Pastry by Black Cat Bakery Co.

Olek sells his baked goods, which include specialty items such as a vegan chocolate-strawberry version of Pop-Tarts, at Ugly Duck Coffee, Rococo Coffee at Mercantile on Main, and Abundance Food Co-op, to name a few shops. His more frou-frou desserts, such as mini Bananas Foster cakes, can be found at spots like Rella.

Ugly Duck Coffee owner Rory Van Grol has been selling Olek’s pastries since 2015, before Black Cat had a name and before Ugly Duck itself had a brick-and-mortar store. Their friendship goes back 25 years, and having begun his cafe as a pop-up venture, Van Grol has an appreciation for small, home-based food processors, whom calls “really passionate and loving people that excel at their craft.”

“Brick-and-mortar locations can be such a big hurdle for a lot of folks that don't have the resources to start at that point,” Van Grol says.

There are restrictions to what home-based food processors can make and sell. Any food that requires refrigeration, for instance, is prohibited. That puts items like pickled eggs, canned fruits, and cream-filled pastries off limits. You can find the full list and regulations at agriculture.ny.gov/food-safety/home-processing.

For bakers, in particular, there are pitfalls in the restrictions that can easily be overlooked. Frostings that were made with butter, eggs, milk, or cream cheese cannot be used, for example. Whereas caramel apples are in bounds, candy melts are out.

It can get tricky, and the territory can shift. Caramel apples were added to the list of permitted items just a few years ago, along with trail mix and dried soup.

click to enlarge

• PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH
• Carter Burwell of Burwell Kitchen.

Registered home processor Carter Burwell of Burwell Kitchen diligently reads the regulations and stays in touch with an agent at the Department of Agriculture to make sure she’s in step with what’s allowed.

“In looking at (the list), they have added newer things that are prohibited, like cocoa bombs and fudge/caramel sauces, since I last looked,” Burwell said.

She can begin to sound like a mad scientist when she narrates how she’ll alter a recipe to get it in line with the rules: “I've gotten confirmation that shortening-based frostings are okay, so that's an option for vegan and regular items for home processors. No cream cheese though. Still waiting on a response regarding Italian meringue buttercream, since it has a syrup cooked to 240 degrees poured into it.”

click to enlarge

• PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH
• Walnut Debbie brownies (pictured) and Rice Krispies treats are just some of the subscription-based treats offered by Burwell Kitchen.

Burwell doesn’t sell her creations to cafes and other businesses; she offers her baked goods and candies on a subscription basis to individual patrons. One of her most popular subscriptions is her rotating versions of Rice Krispies treats, which she makes in various creative batches such as chocolate Irish cream or lavender lemon, and sells by the pan. Subscribers get a pan of a different flavor each month.

“Her use of salt to balance out the sweet is perfection,” dedicated Burwell buyer Laura Seymour says. “We also really enjoy the serving sizes because they're perfect for two people.”

Some of the restrictions require home processors to devise ways to follow the rules and provide their unique and delicious products. Burwell says the limitations have boosted her creativity.

“I'm always looking for a challenge, so to be given a list of 'don'ts' that I can turn into 'do's' is invigorating,” she says. “Learning all the rules so I can figure out how to navigate around them and continue to make the same level of stuff is fun. Maybe I should have been a lawyer.”

Rebecca Rafferty is CITY's life editor and can be reached at becca@rochester-citynews.com.

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Program puts more fresh food on table during pandemic - starexponent.com

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Rowdy Facebook food page erupts over harvesting of ramps - North State Journal

This photo shows a basketful of ramps purchased by Tom Brauer of Norwich, New York, that sparked a controversy on the Facebook page The New York Times Cooking Community over the way the coveted wild spring onions were harvested. The New York Times has announced it was disentangling its name from the page after numerous dramas spanning politics, race and unruly debate. (Tom Brauer via AP)

NEW YORK  — A popular, food-focused Facebook page bearing the name of The New York Times erupted in unruly debate again Wednesday over unsustainable harvesting of a basketful of coveted ramps purchased by an artist in upstate New York.

Tom Brauer of Norwich, New York, was no worse for the pummeling.

He had posted a photo and a question to The New York Times Cooking Community page, which has more than 83,000 members, asking how he should prepare the 15 or so ramps he bought for $10 from a forager who had a van full of the wild spring onions, which grow for just a month.

The photo, showing bulbs and roots attached, prompted a member of the private group to decry the way they were pulled. Pulling the entire plant means it can’t grow again next season. Detractors soon piled on the critic, questioning her judgy tone, while others noted the harvesting practice threatens to endanger the beloved cooking ingredient.

Commenters wrongly assumed Brauer had foraged the ramps himself.

“It’s funny because I used to be on that page a lot but it got really aggressive so I kind of went off,” he said. “The whole thing was kind of annoying and obnoxious, but I do appreciate the info to be honest. I think I’m going to take the roots and plant them in my garden. The delivery was a little harsh, but what are you going to do?”

Brauer, 42, said he had no idea it was frowned on to take the bulbs and roots, and feels bad about it. He bought them from the forager while the two were at a friend’s house Monday.

So what’s he going to do with the ramps?

“I’m going to do a splayed chicken with caramelized ramps,” said Brauer, a painter who works in his family’s appliance store. “My cousin and his family are coming up for the weekend and I always cook them chicken.”

As for the lively recipe page, the newspaper announced last month it plans to remove its branding once it appoints volunteer moderators to take over. The paper cited the time it takes to staff and moderate the group, which has seen numerous controversies and debates spanning politics, race and privilege.

“One thing is clear: The interest in this group is about much more than recipes or The New York Times,” the announcement said.

The group was started in 2019 and grew quickly, with drama over how to discuss the cultural aspects of food, such as the use of MSG. For years, the food additive was branded as an unhealthy processed ingredient mainly found in Chinese food, despite a lack of supporting scientific evidence. The group erupted over anti-Asian sentiment.

Last October, members staged a revolt with food styled to say “vote” amid posts for particular candidates.

Brauer’s chief critic, who derided him for pulling ramp roots, later toned down her response Wednesday, saying: “Y’all are a trip!”

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Food need increases among UAH students during pandemic - WZDX

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Legislature Rescinds Cuomo's Order Requiring Food With Drinks - wnbf.com

Hold that order of Cuomo Queso with that round of Coronas.  New Yorkers will no longer have to buy a snack with their beer, wine or cocktails as lawmakers have repealed Governor Andrew Cuomo’s pandemic executive order requiring bar patrons to also order food with their drinks.

The Governor signed the order last year to encourage customers visiting bars and restaurants to remain seated by requiring them to order food with their drinks. At the time, COVID-19 rates were low and the state had begun allowing New York City bars and restaurants to re-open but there were concerns about people gathering closely together or wandering around an establishment, mask-less and potentially spreading the virus.

Kathy Whyte/ WNBF News

State lawmakers passed resolutions April 28 to repeal the directive, which restaurant owners have blasted for months as nonsensical.

The order led to a Saratoga Springs bar offering “Cuomo Chips and Salsa”, a downstate bar selling “Chip on Your Shoulder” chips and other taverns putting “a piece of meat”, jelly sandwiches and a nine-fry serving of French fries on the menu.

Cuomo had said chips or fruit alone couldn’t count as “food.”

In March, the legislature voted to repeal Governor Cuomo’s executive order powers but allowed the pandemic mandates already issued to remain in place.  The agreement allowed lawmakers to “repeal any “Executive Order .. by a concurrent resolution.”

The state’s minority Republican caucus is still pushing for a full repeal of the Governor’s emergency executive order powers.

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Snack attack! Nampa online students collect food for hungry kids - Idaho EdNews

Fifth grader Jonathan Duran raced up and down the sidewalk in front of Nampa’s Park Ridge Elementary on Wednesday, greeting car after car that pulled up.

“You might need to get one,” he yelled over his shoulder to classmate Kyla Seevers as vehicles stacked up in the parking lot.

Jonathan and his classmates don’t actually attend Park Ridge, but are learning from home this year through Nampa’s Online Virtual Academy. They visit the local elementary school regularly to pick up supplies from their online school teacher, Courtney Craner, drive-through style in the parking lot.

Fifth grade teacher Courtney Craner, left, directs students on how to greet cars during a drive-through snack drive at Nampa’s Park Ridge Elementary. Sami Edge/Idaho EdNews

But Wednesday was special. Instead of picking up supplies, Craner’s students collected donations from locals  contributing to their student-organized snack drive for low-income schools.

It was the first time Craner’s class has been together, in person, all year.

“It’s definitely fun to be back into the school setting. And it’s fun, especially, because they’re leading this,” said Kyla’s mother Kristin Seevers, as she watched the students in the parking lot. “They’re doing it. We’re not guiding them — except to stay out of traffic.”

Fifth grader Hudson Wesner, right, and classmates wait for cars to pull up at a class-organized snack drive on Wednesday, April 28. Sami Edge/Idaho EdNews

Craner’s students organized a snack drive after seeing how quickly their own parents stepped up to donate supplies to their class. Craner shared her gratitude with students, because she used to work at a school where families couldn’t always afford to help out. She mentioned a friend, a teacher in another district, who posted on Instagram about students going hungry.

“Our parents gave a bunch of stuff to her, like overnight, really fast, which got me thinking if we can do that, maybe we can get snacks for hungry kids in schools,” Craner’s student, Audrey, said.

The class hatched a plot.

Craner’s fifth graders started a Go-Fund-Me page. They wrote scripts and called local grocery stores for donations. They scheduled an in-person snack drive for April 28 at a local school. A class media committee called news and radio stations to ask for help spreading the word. And a handful of bilingual students volunteered to translate the materials to make sure Spanish-speaking families knew about the snack-drive, too.

Students’ original fundraising goal was $500. They ended up raising more than $1,200 in two weeks. Target donated hundreds of dollars of snacks, enough to fill Craner’s car. Businesses like Idaho Central Credit Union and Fred Meyer also chipped in.

By Wednesday, when students hosted the snack drive, they already had well over a thousand dollars in cash and snacks.

Then community members brought another $800 worth of goods, Craner estimates.

“A bunch of 11-year-olds took this idea and ran with it,” Craner said. “It’s crazy.”

The students initially planned to provide snacks for schools in the Nampa School District, but after doing research on the highest-needs schools in the area, they split the resources between ten low-income schools in Boise and Nampa.

Students have been calling schools to ask about their “wish-lists,” and plan to go shopping on Friday to buy snacks with the funds donated online.

Kyla Seevers is looking forward to the shopping trip with her classmates — but she’s most excited about delivering the snacks to schools.

“Just to see their faces and see how they react,” Seevers said. “Knowing we get to help people and help kids in need.”

Nampa online student Nathan Butkowsky holds the thank you cards his class distributed to patrons who dropped off snacks for a fundraiser on April 28, 2021. Sami Edge/Idaho EdNews

Nampa parents donated hundreds of snacks to the NOVA class fundraiser on Wednesday. Businesses like Target and Fred Meyer contributed snacks and gift-cards. Sami Edge/Idaho EdNews

Hand-written signs thanking corporate donors lay in the grass at Park Ridge elementary school, where Nampa Online Virtual Academy students collected snacks for hungry students. Sami Edge/Idaho EdNews

About Sami Edge

Reporter Sami Edge, a University of Oregon graduate, joined Idaho Education News in 2019. She is a 2019 Education Writers Association fellow reporting on Latino student outcomes in Idaho. She also is a 2019 American Press Institute fellow. She can be reached at [email protected].

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In-school therapy is an increasingly popular mental health support in Idaho schools. Nampa’s partnerships offer a glimpse into the strengths and challenges of that model.

“We’ve had to work really hard to make this process go as smoothly as it does,” one teacher told EdNews. She worries that a legislative mandate requiring parental permission could leave some students without necessary information.

Nampa and West Ada school districts posted fewer “As” and more “Fs” but trends improved as students became more familiar with remote learning.

As kids return to buildings, administrators are looking to rehire — but struggling to fill low-wage positions when staffers could make more at Costco or Amazon.

“The change I want to see today, is: If you see anyone struggling, I want to see others fight and uplift them.”

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Museum, Shoppers Value partner for food giveaway | Local News | yourgv.com - YourGV.com

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8 Fun Food Events Around DC This Weekend - Washingtonian

Start Cinco de Mayo early with an Al Pastor taco at Paraiso. Photo courtesy of Anne Kim.

Join a virtual cocktail class  tonight, April 29, with the bartending crew at Salt (1201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington). You’ll learn about using herbs in drinks, and can between from two cocktails to make. The demonstration is free, but if you want to use the same ingredients as the bartenders, pick up a kit from Salt by 5 PM (the class starts at 6). It’ll include enough ingredients to make four cocktails.

Start your Cinco de Mayo celebrations early with a special tasting menu at Capitol Hill restaurant Paraiso. Munch on chips and salsa, tacos and tres leches, and pair your meal with mezcal flights or tequila-based cocktails.  menu is available starting Friday, April 30.

Breakfast tacos are always a good idea, and the La Tejana pop-up will serve them up in Mount Pleasant (3155 Mt. Pleasant St., NW) on Friday, April 30 from 8 to 11 AM, and on Saturday, May 1 from 9 until noon. There are five tacos on the menu, and are $12 for three, and $22 for six.

Until the annual Funk Parade can return in person, there are still ways to support the organization. On Saturday, May 1, the Alexandria-based Aslin Beer Co. (847 S. Pickett St., Alexandria) is brewing Black Broadway, a beer with notes of dragon fruit, passionfruit and blackberry. A portion of each pint or four-pack sold helps provide free music education programs for DC kids. There are several event through May 8.

There are plenty of places around the District to sit and watch the Kentucky Derby (or grab and go) on Saturday, May 1. Get your mint julep fix at one of these local spots.

The Fairmont hotel (2401 M St., NW) is offering ready-to-go picnic baskets named after DC parks. There are three baskets to choose from, filled with a sandwich, snacks, sides, and dessert. Whether you choose the Georgetown Waterfront Park, the vegetarian Meridian Hill Park, or the vegan Rock Creek Park version, each comes with water and the option to add sparkling wine. Baskets cost $53 and are available for pickup on both Saturday, May 1 and Sunday, May 2.

Saturday, May 1 and Sunday, May 2, chefs Tom Cunanan and Paolo Dungca are teaming up with chef Harold Villarosa (aka Unkle Harold) for a special menu at Filipino fast casual spot Pogiboy (inside the Block food hall, 1110 Vermont Ave., NW). Some proceeds from the event will be donated to the National Federation of Filipino-American Association.

Kicking off Sunday, May 2, Pizzeria Paradiso Hyattsville (4800 Rhode Island Ave., Hyattsville) will host Sidewalk Sundays. Every Sunday in May, there will be a family-friendly brunch with a build-your-own pizza Bar, beer and cocktails for adults and sidewalk chalk to decorate the parking lot canvas. Reservations are required.

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New York opens probe into toxic metals in baby food - Reuters

New York's attorney general said on Thursday she has opened a probe into whether baby food contains arsenic and other toxic metals, and asked four manufacturers to provide information on whether their infant rice cereal products are safe. In letters to Nestle's (NESN.S) Gerber, Beech-Nut Nutrition, Earth's Best Organic maker Hain Celestial Group (HAIN.O) and Happy Family Organics maker Nurture, Attorney General Letitia James also said she wants to ensure the companies' advertising complied with state consumer protection laws.

The letters follow a Feb. 4 report by a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee that said "dangerous levels of toxic heavy metals" in some popular baby foods could cause brain and other neurological damage. read more

"No child should be exposed to toxic substances in their food," and parents are entitled to "peace-of-mind" from knowing their children's food is safe to eat, James said in a statement.

A Gerber spokeswoman said that company's baby food is safe, and that babies' health and nutrition is "our priority."

Beech-Nut, Hain and Nurture did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

James wants the companies to inform consumers about the risk of arsenic contamination and to disclose information about how the companies test infant rice cereal products by May 28.

The House report said internal company standards permitted excessive levels of toxic metals in baby food, which was "often" sold with even higher levels.

It noted that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has declared that inorganic arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury are dangerous, particularly to infants and children.

Manufacturers have said they were working to reduce levels of metals in baby food.

Many proposed class-action consumer lawsuits have been filed, and on April 21 the attorney general in Washington, D.C. sued Beech-Nut over its labeling.

In March, a group of House Democrats proposed legislation, the Baby Food Safety Act, to cap within one year the presence of inorganic arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury in baby food and cereal. read more

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Now Is the Time to Embrace Not-Hot Food - Lifehacker

Photo: Natalia Lisovskaya (Shutterstock)

It is not properly hot out yet, but once that happens, three things will become true: I will start to hate using my oven. I will want to invite people to my yard to enjoy a meal al fresco. I will grow increasingly lazy. None of these three things is in direct conflict with the other two, but their co-existence does present some challenges.

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Cooking outside keeps things cool, but grilling usually means I end up all smoky and sweaty come suppertime. I also do not always love putting fresh-off-the-grill food into my mouth if I myself have spent a good amount of time sweating over hot coals. This is where the elegance of room-temp (or even colder) food comes in.

Eating food that was cooked the day before, a couple of hours ago, or even just half an hour ago and then allowed to cool does two things: It introduces you to new flavors and textures, and it frees up your hosting timeline considerably. If you’re not worried about your main “getting cold” while you prepare the rest of the meal, you’ll feel much less stressed, and you’ll be more likely to enjoy the process of entertaining. (Limiting yourself a bit can help too.)

While a nice hot steak is definitely enjoyable, a grilled flank that’s been sitting in a board sauce overnight (in the fridge) can be transcendent. The sauce has had time to permeate the meat, and taking it out of the fridge half an hour early to warm slightly before serving lets you taste volatile flavor compounds that you might miss at super warm or super cold temperatures.

“Food” is not a monolith, and even something as simple as orange juice contains a staggering array of chemical compounds that affect its flavor, and temperature affects different kinds of foods differently. According to Serious Eats, the “topic remains poorly understood in scientific circles, in part due to wide variation in the concentrations of taste compounds in different foods, not to mention the inherent subjectivity of taste.” But even still, “the idea that hot and cold temperatures reduce the intensity at which your tongue perceives taste has gained a fair amount of credence among both academics and laypeople.”

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Anecdotally, I ate a room-temp grilled chicken thigh yesterday, and it blew my mind. The skin was the only drawback—it was rubbery and jiggly rather than crispy—but the meat tasted sweeter, a little richer, and felt dense and silky on the tongue. It was a completely different experience than eating a freshly grilled thigh, and it was a good one.

A word on food safety

I know we’re all supposed to be keeping “hot foods hot” and “cold foods cold,” but you have some leeway, even by the FDA’s standards. They recommend leaving perishable food out of the fridge for no longer than two hours, and no longer than one hour if the ambient temp rises above 90°F, so stick to that and you will be more than safe. (The FDA and their rules have never stopped me from eating pizza that’s sat out on my counter overnight, but do as the FDA says, not as I do.)

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Let your meat mellow

All meat benefits from a little resting after cooking so the juices can redistribute, but some meats do particularly well with a long nap or even a full night’s sleep. Some of my favorite not-hot foods include chicken breasts that have been pounded and grilled (or pan fried) and then allowed to cool to room temp, thinly sliced medium-rare steak that’s been chilled overnight and tossed with an acidic vinaigrette, and room temp (or cold) reversed-seared koji-, miso-, or buttermilk-marinated pork. This sous-vide tuna is not appealing at all fresh out of the cooker, but absolutely stellar when served room-temp with crusty bread, really good mayo, and lots of fresh herbs. Also, don’t sleep on leftover fried chicken; it should not work—most cold fried food is gross—but the layer of congealed fat that resides just under the skin is a textural delight when paired with the cold, salty crunch of the breading.

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Let your vegetables veg out

Freshly roasted potatoes are good—I would never claim otherwise—but letting them cool to room temp makes them ideal dippers. Try dipping one of these mini hasslebacks directly from the air fryer into sour cream. The dip will slide right off. But let the spud cool, and it will grab hold of that cultured dairy and cradle it with care as it makes the journey to your mouth. A tiny room-temp potato is likewise a far superior vehicle for crème fraîche and caviar; a hot one would melt the former and obscure the delicate, briny flavor of the latter.

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Other vegetables, both root and not, also benefit from cooling. Room temp roasted carrots make a great meat substitute in a salad—they’ve got the chew!—and cold marinated asparagus always tastes more like asparagus than its hot counterpart. Actually, I’d argue all marinated veg are best at room temp. The oils are warm enough to be fluid, but not so warm that any delicate herbs are lost on the palate. If you need convincing that fresh vegetables and fruits are better served room-temp than chilled, just follow up a slice of tomato from a fruit that was stored in the fridge with one from a tomato that was stored on the counter.

Eggs and dairy benefit too

Warmish eggs and cheese may sound icky—especially if you grew up in the U.S., or anywhere else they blast the cuticle off of their eggs—but dishes like the Spanish tortilla are meant to be served this way (as is this sous-side omelet), and unless it’s shredded cheese straight from the bag at 2 a.m., cold cheese is a crime. We’ve discussed this before, but the fat in cheese just doesn’t taste or feel that good when it’s fridge-cold:

Cheese is mostly fat, and cold fat is rubbery and flavorless. But once that fat warms up, it loosens up, and the cheese will feel creamy—rather than bouncy—in your mouth. It will also taste as it was intended, since you won’t have all that cold, flavor-muting fat messing things up.

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This spring and summer, I urge you to lean into the not-hot, the room-temp, and the ever-so-slightly-chilled. It will allow you to be lazier, breezier, and a little more relaxed, but it might also introduce you to new flavors and textures that you didn’t even know were possible. One thing I would avoid at all costs? Room-temperature Diet Coke. Letting it warm to anything above “ice cold” will let you taste new and exiting flavors, but those flavors are best described as “robot blood.”

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