I talked about YAV in general being like the Church's version of the Peace Corps for one year. life with mostly females, Lazarus at the Gate bible study, Farmer Dave's CSA distribution at my church, teaching people what kholrabi and other weird vegetables are, showing how leftovers go to the food pantry, etc.
I talked a little about Manna Mondays, but then the audience had some excellent discussion about how these themes could apply to my home community in the Shenandoah Valley and Appalachian Mountains where poverty, geography, agriculture, and local food all looks different. Here are a few pictures I showed.
First of all I asked the refreshments be locally sourced. In Goshen we got eggs from Chicken Lawhorn's Chickens, lemonade made with water from the mud puddle out back. There were some delicous cakes and snacks as well.
Justine and Ray Tilghman, the forman couple of the Craigsville Food Pantry were there. The Craigsville pantry serves Bath, Augusta, Rockbridge, and parts of Highland Counties. Mostly rural mountain communities. They serve a much larger area than Burlington, but similar numbers. Justine gets fresh produce from WalMart once a month the week before they open for distribution. Usually it's close to going bad and needs to be tossed or sent to feed someone's livestock before distribution. Things have been better since they got a walk-in refrigerator, but Justine is still concerned about the food waste. She's been considering opening up once a month for a few hours just to give out produce so it wont get thrown away. (If any of those links ask you to pay to read the full article send me an E-mail and I'll get it to you for free haneyja314@gmail.com)
Refrigeration and opening just a day for produce were two things Jane has been exploring in Burlington to manage the abundance of fresh produce from Farmer Dave's and the area grocery stores. It was a good conversation of the two of us sharing ideas while other church members learned of ways they can help her. Those interested near Craigsville should contact Justine at the pantry (540-997-5827) about volunteering for the vegetable only distribution, or helping deliver produce to those in need.
In Harrisonburg a few college buddies came which was awesome! Mary, Rebekah, Tim, Mike, and Hannah you should all really think about YAV! The discussion in Harrisonburg involved a lot about school lunches, hunger in schools, the new regulations, and the weekend backpack program. It got a lot of church members talking about that with some of the college students who are still packing backpacks a few times a month. We heard from some teachers the real problems hungry kids have in schools and how they hate to see them going for chips to curb hunger pangs.
Both discussions felt a lot like my time in Boston. There was a lot of raising awareness of the issues, a lot of defining the problems and blaming others. I walked away thinking that we all knew the problems better but lacked solutions. But at the core of the discussion we shared ideas and options for real solutions in the respective communities. That was my truest job as a YAV- stirring up conversation and empowering folks to make changes in their communities. When it's all said and done, that's quite an impact for a year's time.
I was in Boston for a year, Virginia for a week, and Goshen/Harrisonburg for just a day. My hope is that the pictures, the silly jokes, and the discussions can all stir up some spirit within folks to take an action, large or small to make something better. Heck, if we all do something together, we all do something toward the same goal we are working as one body in Christ and what can stop us then?
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