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Abundant Harvest - What you can do to create food security for New Mexico
New Mexico is America's hungriest states with 16.5 percent of its residence going without food atleat once a month yet we have a thriving agricultural industry. With proper planning and organizaton New Mexico can become one of the best fed states in America. Planning for food security can be organized to prevent both chronic and emergancy shortages. Food Not Bombs has three decades experiance in solving food security issues. We coordinated the food relief effort for the survivors of Katrina and the Loma Preata Earthquake in San Francisco. We have also organized regular daily food collection and distribution programs in over 65 countries. Visit us at the New Mexico Bioneers at the College of Santa Fe, October 19-21, 2007. Last winter the snow closed Interstate 25 and people in our area of Northern New Mexico couldn't get food. At the same time the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that New Mexico was the hungriest state with over 16.5 perct. Keith McHenry coordinated the food relief effort for Katrina working with Food Not Bombs, Veterans For Peace, The National Association of Medical Students and the Rainbow Family. He helped raise over $10,000 to pay for gas for the buses and trucks that brought the food and cooking equipment to the survivors of Katrina. Keith designed a website and posted my toll free number and email address. Hundreds of people contacted Food Not Bombs and we organized a way to connect tons of food donations, volunteers and vehicles to one another and directed the buses and trucks to over 20 kitchens in the Gulf States. With the snowstorm in New Mexico we saw that our food started to run out in less than a week. Grocery stores ran out of all the staples and we had to wait for the roads to clear before the stores could restock. We met with the directors of local soup kitchens and community farmers to talk about how we could grow and collect surplus food and store it for an emergency. We also talked about how we would distribute healthy nutritious food. The groups Movimento, Tierra Lucero and Food Not Bombs meet after the smowstorm to initiate a plan end hunger in New Mexico and prepare for a food emergency. Movimento teaches Pueblo, Angelo and Spanish teens how to can and process locally grown food. Tierra Lucero teaches young people how to grow organic food and Food Not Bombs collects food that can't be sold from local grocery stores, bakeries and local farmers. After our first meeting we called and wrote Governor Bill Richardson's office and spoke with the directors of the Blackstone Institute, The Taos Community Kitchen, the Food Not Bombs groups across New Mexico and Shared Table. After a few more meetings we decided it was time to organize a statewide meeting with farmers, soup kitchens, groceries, food processors, community leaders from all over New Mexico. More about the New Mexico Bioneers
Building Our Sustainable Future P.O. Box 424 Arroyo Seco, NM 87514 USA 505-776-3880 E-Mail: keith@foodnotbombs.net http://www.consensus.net/sustainable_future.html |