This Thursday, youth participants in The Growing Green Program from Massachusetts Avenue Project will bring fresh nutritious local food and a message about its importance to the city of Buffalo from 3-6pm with a community BBQ celebration. Itis part of the first-ever BLAST National Eat In, Act Out Week, in which people and communities across the country are joining together to discover and celebrate the importance of eating and enjoying locally grown foods.
The message: Eat In. That is, please join young people across the nation in eating foods grown in the community and prepared healthfully and with care. You can improve your body, your family, our economy, and our environment.
All week youth from the Growing Green Program will be promoting healthy eating with a variety of outreach activities. In the Westside, Downtown and Elmwood areas, they will pass out fresh green beans and watermelon while also sharing facts theyive learned about food.
The Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP) is a nonprofit, community-based organization devoted to organizing and implementing projects to build and revitalize Buffalois West Side. Growing Green develops models for community revitalization through sustainable urban agriculture, youth entrepreneurship, and food systems development. Youth gain knowledge about their food, nutrition, sustainability, and food systems issues through hands-on activities in MAPis award-winning gardens, in the kitchen, on the farm, and at the farmeris markets. In the addition, youth acquire marketable job and life skills, an increased knowledge of good nutrition and improved nutritional practices, and business ownership experience. Growing Green is a member of the BLAST National network.
Eat In, Act Out Week is initiated by BLAST, the global network of youth and adults working together to build sustainable food systems. BLAST stands for Building Local Agricultural Systems Today with the leaders of tomorrow. It is a program of The Food Project, the innovative organization that, since 1991, has provided youth leadership opportunities, inspired and supported others to create positive change in their own communities through sustainable agriculture, and produced healthy food for residents in cities and suburbs. More information is at www.thefoodproject.org/blast.
Community sponsors include - The Lexington Coop, Left Bank Restaurant, Pellicanos Market, Tops Friendly Markets on Niagara Ave, Mineo and Sapios Sausages, WBLK Radio and Roselandis Restaurant.