This was the year the City of Seattle declared the Year of Urban Agriculture and for us at Lettuce Link it certainly was a year planting, harvesting, delivering, planning and community engagement around the possibilities of growing and sharing food in the city.
It was also a year for developing and strengthening partnerships. As our economy changes and resources contract, we see the continued need for linking together the strength and momentum of all of us working towards a more just and equitable food system. It is only in solidarity that we will be able to accomplish our goals.
In 2010, with the help of our generous volunteers (over 7,947 volunteer hours) and financial supporters, we:
- Provided seeds, plant starts and gardening information for 2,120 food bank clients at 24 different locations.
- Supported P-Patch gardeners at 45 sites to grow and share 11,000 pounds of organic produce for food banks and meal programs (with only one-third of gardens reporting).
- Grew over 22,383 pounds of organic produce at Marra Farm to donate to the Providence Regina House and Beacon Avenue food banks (a 37.5% increase from 2009).
- Shared local fresh fruit with food banks and meal programs across the city, despite a poor fruit year.
- Taught nutrition, organic gardening and ecology to Concord Elementary students and children from several other schools, reaching over 510 kids.
- Hosted over 90 community members speaking seven different languages in designing the Seattle Community Farm at Rainier Vista and moved 14,000 pounds of concrete blocks to create a retaining wall that survived the early December rains.
- Held events to raise $20,000 in needed funds, thank you Friends of Lettuce Link!
- Partnered with Creatives 4 Community, Spring into Bed, Seattle Tilth, Clean Greens, Delridge Neighborhood Development Association, the University of Washington Department of Urban Design and Planning and School of Social Work, Environmental Coalition of South Seattle (ECOSS), King County Food and Fitness Initiative, the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods and many others on projects that will increase access to healthy foods for everyone.
- Marked a year of program blogging by including information about food policies and opportunities for advocating for large system changes.
The Lettuce Link team - Michelle, Sue, Scott, Robin, Amelia, Molly & Teresa
(with much gratitude to Sadie, Jamie, Leslie, Kate & Isobel, our AmeriCorps volunteers and interns who have moved on to new adventures)
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