BELLOWS FALLS — The Ben & Jerry's Foundation recently notified Post Oil Solutions that it was awarding its project, the Greater Falls Community Garden Collaborative (GFCGC), an Economic Justice Grant of $10,000 to pursue its food security work in its catchment area of Rockingham, Bellows Falls, Saxtons River, Westminister, Cambridgeport, Athens, and Grafton.
Begun in November 2011 following a series of community conversations Post Oil hosted on the need to make local food more affordable and accessible to all citizens in the region, the GFCGC addresses the growing issue of food security in Windham County's northeast.
The collaborative's steering committee consists of 10 community and school gardens and several community group members.
During its first year, it initiated the Atkinson Street Community Garden in Bellows Falls and the Saxtons River Community School garden, and hosted a number of workshops on gardening and putting food by.
The collaborative in 2013-14 aims to continue outreach via community conversations, expand its workshop series around all aspects of local food, work to expand the network of community and school gardens, develop healthy local food alternatives in neighborhood stores and restaurants, and further improve school food programs.
In addition to providing the Ben & Jerry's Foundation with a final report at the end of the grant year, the GFCGC will be present at Ben & Jerry's headquarters, in South Burlington, during the grant period.