Food Summit 2018 to address food access

Jana Mathia, Gazette Reporter | Jan 18, 20180

The Whitman County Food Coalition and Palouse-Clearwater Food Coalition will co-host the 2018 Food Summit, Saturday, Jan. 27, at the Gladish Community Center from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The summit will focus on food access on the Palouse; whether that be individuals growing their own, food pantries or food access in rural towns.

The summit will also launch the Palouse Tables Project.

There is high food insecurity in Whitman County as a whole, according to Ryan Lazo with the Center for Civic Engagement. The summit aims to address that issue and find solutions for correcting it.

Different organizations will be presenting in the morning. After a catered lunch which will highlight local food, there will be a presentation and launch of the Palouse Tables Project.

“The central focus is really community food projects,” said Joe Astorino, garden and nutrition specialist with the Community Action Center of Whitman County.

The Palouse Tables Project is a planning project sponsored by the Whitman County Food Coalition and funded by a Community Food Project planning grant from the USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture.

The year-long project aims to engage as many individuals who want to put together and coordinate plans for food security in their communities and the region. Astorino noted they plan to apply for an implementation grant to follow up with the planning.

The afternoon of the summit will have a presentation of a map with a regional approach to food security and Astorino laying out the plan for the Palouse Tables Project with an invitation for people to participate. Then the summit will break into small group sessions with the morning presenters at different tables to talk about what works for them.

“Kind of a bottom up approach to planning,” Astorino said. He called it an “appreciative inquiry” method, taking what is working for the presenters and the groups they represent for others to incorporate to better their own group. The project aims to empower a lot of entities to share resources, learn and train with each other and collaborate as needed.

The project also hopes to expand the volunteer basis around the region to help in food security programs.

“A lot of our programs rely on a lot of volunteers,” he said.

Lazo said the summit is for anyone interested in helping people get more access to food on the Palouse or simply helping their neighbors.

Anyone interested should register for the event. There are a limited number of need-based scholarships. Registration is on a sliding-scale, and includes a catered lunch. Full admission is $25, but can go down to $15. Lazo noted individuals or organizations can also donate extra to help cover the costs of the reduced admission. Kids are $10 and have their own room.

“(We’re) really trying to make it accessible to everyone,” Lazo said of attendance to the event. All funds go to supporting this summit and future ones.

Pre-registration is required by January 20.

Last year’s summit focused on the value of local food and included keynote speakers and a report on the economic impact from the Moscow Farmers’ Market.

http://www.pcfoodcoalition.org/food-summit