What's Cooking? Central and Western African Cuisine

Last month, Bread for the City's Nutrition Initiative set its sights on Africa -- specifically, West and Central African cuisine! Bread for the City has many Nigerian and Cameroonian clients, some with extensive cooking experience. For one of our bi-weekly cooking seminars, conducted alongside clients who are learning about health and nutrition, nutrition consultant (and cooking coach) Sharon Gruber researched regional cuisine, and modified some of her ongoing lessons about health and nutrition to come up with recipes that were both familiar and nutritious. Altogether, it made for a well-attended and boisterous class!

“The men in the group said they normally don’t get to walk into a kitchen, let alone cook," said Sharon. "But here the men got to make an avocado salad. The women thought this was great!”

Sharon engaged in dialogue with the class participants about how recipes could be made both affordably and healthfully. She explains: “Our goal was to make traditional dishes that taste authentic, while also making them as healthful as possible.”

While many participants in the class already knew how to make akara (fritters made with black-eyed peas), Sharon and her Nigerian co-teacher, Ms. Tulani Rufai, a nutritionist and BFC client, modified the recipe by leaving the black-eyed peas unprocessed. This keeps more fiber in the dish. The class worked together with Sharon and Ms. Rufai to cook this new akara recipe, as well as a stew that was served with a traditional rice and vegetable dish called jollof rice, and the avocado salad that was proudly put together by the male participants.

Attendees were really enthusiastic. As Sharon recalls, “The first thing that Ms. Rufai said when she walked in the room, was 'That jollof rice looks great!'” The clients who attended this workshop enjoyed learning about how to make familiar foods more nutritious and, as you can see in the video, had a great time cooking together too!

Bread for the City is committed to meeting our clients’ needs in an atmosphere of dignity and respect. By incorporating foods into our cooking classes that our clients are already comfortable making, we are respecting their abilities while also demonstrating techniques that make these favorite recipes healthier. “The participants seemed honored that we focused on their native cuisine, and they had lots of suggestions about what we’d make next time," Sharon says.

Fortunately, “next time” is rapidly approaching! There is a special workshop for Salvadoran and Mexican medical clinic patients taking place on Tuesday, August 3rd in the NW center. There will be a Spanish translator present to help facilitate the experience. Then, at the end of August we will be holding two more general cooking classes, dates to be announced. Keep an eye on this blog for more information as it is available! All clients are welcome to attend these late-August workshops.

-- This post was written by Development Department Intern, Kristin Kozlowski

Burgers and Hot Dogs and Corn - Oh My!

Last Thursday, clients, volunteers, supporters and staff of Bread for the City gathered for our Third Annual Parking Lot Picnic. We grilled out, chilled out, and celebrated our shared passion for the work of Bread for the City.



View the entire photo album on our flickr page.




Check out our video recap of the event below. (It's only 2mns!)




Major props go out to our two sponsors for this event: B.K. Miller Meats & Liquor and Giant Food. Without their generous support, this event would not have been possible.

Hope to see you next year!

Safeway & BFC Partnership Continues

You may remember that, as we began our reusable bag drive to help our clients avoid the newly-implemented bag tax, we received a pledge from Safeway of more than 7,000 reusable bags for our pantry. Well, our partnership with Safeway doesn't stop there.

Recently, I had the privilege of attending the breakfast ceremony hosted by the Safeway Foundation where thousands of dollars in grants were awarded to local charities. Among the groups receiving funding was Bread for the City who received a grant in the amount of $5,000! This funding will help us provide food to more than 6,000 people.


"The employees of Safeway are proud to be able to support local organizations like this that touch the lives of our customers," said Gregory Ten Eyeck (right), chairman of The Safeway Foundation for the Eastern Division.

The Foundation is funded through the generous contributions of Safeway employees throughout its Eastern Division. The decisions to whom grants are given are made by a committee comprised of a diverse group of Safeway employees from throughout its local operating area. The Foundation places a special emphasis on organizations in the areas of hunger relief, education, special needs, and health and human services and strives to return contributions to the neighborhoods shared by their stores.

Without the dedicated support of Safeway and the host of other organizations in our community who partner with us in our mission, we simply could not do what we do. So we at Bread for the City offer a big "Thank You!" to the Safeway employees and foundation for their support. And we look forward to continuing our partnership in the future.

Next Week: Tenant Town Hall!

Next week, Bread for the City is co-sponsoring the 3rd annual Tenant Town Hall. On Saturday, July 31, 2010, from 2:30 to 5 pm, at First Trinity Church (309 E St NW), we'll join with tenants from across the city to talk to elected officials and government agencies to talk about housing needs and solutions.

According to the Latino Economic Development Corporation (LEDC), the Tenant Town Hall is "a welcoming space for tenants in the District of Columbia to come together to talk about tenant rights and the preservation of affordable housing in their neighborhoods."

There have, in fact, been a number of recent successes to celebrate. LEDC explains: "In response to tenant demands, DCRA in November 2009 created a proactive housing code inspections program to prevent tenant displacement and improve housing conditions. During the program’s initial pilot phase, 4,074 housing code violations were cited at 264 buildings citywide – resulting in $30,500 in fines levied against landlords."

Another important part of the agenda is discussion of the new housing conditions docket in D.C. Superior Court, which enables tenants to sue their landlords for bad conditions. This is actually a proposal that originated as a demand from tenants the first Tenant Town Hall in 2008. For the past two years, this demand was fought for -- and won -- by tenants and advocates and lawyers (BFC Lord High Legal Director Vytas V Vergeer prominent among them). Now that the docket has been successfully established, the Town Hall will foster discussion about how it can be used and how it can be improved.

Between that and discussion about the city's worsening lack of funding for affordable housing (a conversation that is heating up these days), this is sure to be a busy and heated event.

Confirmations have been received from Councilmembers (including Ward One's Jim Graham and staff from At-Large Michael Brown's office) and heads of housing-related agencies.

This event is also co-sponsored by ONE DC, Empower DC, Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, Legal Aid Society of DC, Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center, AARP Legal Counsel for the Elderly, and tenant associations from across DC.

For more information about the Tenant Town Hall, email Anna Duncan or call 202-540-7419.

Photos courtesy LEDC.

Job posting: Social Services Supervisor

We are seeking a social services supervisor to provide supervision of case managers in the SE Social Services Program of Bread for the City. The position also involves providing some limited case work to Bread for the City clients.


Specific duties include:

• Provide regular supervision to a staff of 3 to 4 case managers, an intake coordinator and interns working in the Social Services Program at the SE Center. This includes weekly individual meetings to provide training, support and guidance to the team.
• Collaborate with the Social Services Director in SE to complete assessments for new case management clients.
• Assume leadership and direct oversight for specific projects within the Social Services Program.
• Provide case management and some individual counseling services to an average of 10 to 15 cases.
• Assist with social service walk-in and on-call hours. This involves providing brief advice and referral to resources for clients who arrive on a walk-in basis.
• Together with the Program Director, provide in-service training and support to staff on a monthly basis on issues relating to individual cases, case management and social work skills and techniques, and problem-solving approaches to working with clients.
• Represent Bread for the City and the Social Services Program in contacts with other community-based organizations, and identify and foster relationships to benefit mutual clients across agencies.
• Other duties as assigned.

Requirements:

• A Masters Degree in social work, counseling, psychology, or human development, from an accredited college or university with a minimum of 2 years experience in the areas of supervision, mental health, substance abuse and poverty. Knowledge of public benefits a plus.
• Must be licensed or license-eligible (LGSW, LICSW or LPC)
• Previous experience providing leadership and/or supervision to employees in a social services setting
• Commitment to providing services in an atmosphere of dignity and respect
• Ability to work with mentally ill and/or low-income people in an inner city community setting
• Excellent time management skills and ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Keen knowledge of resources and services available to residents of the District of Columbia a plus
• Knowledge of government programs to low-income individuals and families helpful
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Spanish speaking ability helpful, but not required

Send resume, cover letter and writing sample to:
Lynda L. Brown, MA
SE Center Director
Director of Social Services
Fax (202) 574-1536
lbrown@breadforthecity.org

Let's Glean Again, Like We Did Last Summer

Aaaand we’re gleaning again!

On Saturday, more than a dozen volunteers drove down to Parker Farms in Colonial Beach, VA. Some of our volunteers were BFC donors; others found out about the project from an NPR story about it last year; and still others learned about it from the DC Food For All. All of them were ready to roll up their sleeves and come to the rescue of the farm’s surplus sweet corn.

There was more out there than we’d expected. We gleaned just one acre out of 100s that were available to us, and left at the end with more than 1,700lbs of corn in tow. Farmer Rod Parker met us in the fields, and at the end of the day he told me, “my only complaint is that you didn’t bring enough bins.”

Why is so much corn left in the farm’s field? Here are some reasons:

1) Human error: laborers inevitably miss a certain amount of corn that is market-ready and perfect. Farmers often opt not to pay for a second pass through the fields, but are happy for volunteers to come do it.

2) Undersized/under ripe: corn that is too small to sell is left behind, even if it is edible. Shoppers are so picky that almost every type of produce has size minimums and shape requirements. Under-ripe corn is also left behind. It’s not as tasty or filling, but still edible -- and often ripened by the time we get to it.

3) Damaged: corn that has been eaten or broken. There wasn’t actually that much corn that was actually damaged, and we left it all behind too. There was way more of the good stuff to be had.

This successful trip marks the launch of the second year of Glean for the City, a project that already feels like a cherished tradition around here. Last year, we rescued 50,000 lbs. of fresh, surplus produce from farms and farmers markets, including apples, bell peppers, broccoli, and a plethora of other fruits and veggies -- an average of 2,000 lbs. of fresh produce every week! All for free, all food that otherwise would have gone to waste, but instead went to the kitchen table of the DC residents who need it the most.

The farmers love it, our volunteers love it, our clients love it, and our community was so enthusiastic about it that you all helped us win a contest on the internet, ensuring that we had enough funding to cover the cost of a full-time coordinator to manage the program. (Speaking as this year’s new coordinator, I want to say thank you!)

You’ll be really excited by what we have in store this year. First of all, we’ve extended the gleaning season by one month, and connected with new farm partners to bring in more quantity and a healthier variety. We aim to bring in 3,000 lbs per week this time. And we’re even partnering with other local food pantries to run coordinated gleanings and share the bounty!

In fact, I hope to someday honor our Food Pantry Director Ted Pringle’s goal of ultimately replacing all canned vegetables in our pantry with farm-fresh produce.

If you’re interested in volunteering, or if your community group or organization might want to partner with us, please email me. In the meantime, if you'd like to support this work, you can help us cover the cost of transportation and other things like bins, bags, gloves, and so on, by making a donation to Glean for the City today.

Come Picnic in our Parking Lot: Thursday!

Our 3rd Annual Parking Lot picnic is this Thursday evening from 6 - 8 pm.

We'll be lightin' up the grill in the parking lot of our Northwest Center, serving up some delicious food, spending time with the BFC community, and hearing of all the new and exciting changes in store for 2011.

The developers and architects of our 11,000 square-foot expansion will be in attendance and will be giving an update on the project. (You can read more about our expansion in our recent Beyond Bread post here.)

RSVP TODAY! Call or email Nathan LaBorie at 202-386-7611 or nlaborie@breadforthecity.org.
We hope to see you there!



























In case you missed it, the Picnic will be on Thursday, July 22nd, from 6-8pm. RSVP now--call or email Nathan LaBorie at 202-386-7611 or nlaborie@breadforthecity.org.

Check out our expansion!

If you’ve passed by our Northwest Center in the past couple of months, you’ve probably noticed that construction of our new expansion is well underway. I was lucky enough to get a tour of the construction site last week, and the spaces I saw got me very excited for this fall, when the building will be finished!

The new entryway to our building will be spacious and inviting, with a staircase and elevator and open hallways. A wide reception area will feature plenty of seating for visitors. (One could generously describe our current layout as ‘cozy,’ with seating space only along a narrow hallway in between offices and intake rooms; this new layout will be a great enhancement.)

Two views of the entryway to our upcoming new building, facing out to and in from 7th street.

And oh, how these services will be enhanced! Most of all, our Medical Clinic is in for a major upgrade: not only will we have more exam rooms, a larger dispensary and a new lab, but in time, our new facility will even accommodate a dental suite. In sum, the new medical clinic in will ultimately allow us to triple our capacity to provide free health care to our community.

Our Social Services department and Legal Clinic will expand into the space previously occupied by the Medical Clinic, providing them with more private meeting space for client visits.

Once the wall between our new and old buildings gets blasted through, our food pantry will be re-organized to accommodate Client Choice, the successful new way of distributing food that we’ve been practicing in our Southeast Center since March.

The builders plan to complete this new doorway
soon.

Another exciting feature of the expansion will actually be found on top of the building. With the help of DC Greenworks, we’ll build a 3500 square foot green roof. Not only will this reduce storm water runoff, reduce our heating and cooling costs, and reduce our input to the urban heat island effect, but it will also eventually host a garden in which we can grow our own herbs and vegetables. Ultimately we hope to involve client volunteers in the growing and harvesting of this produce, for their own consumption and to be shared with the pantry. Check back for more details on this project soon.

Soon, this roof will be covered in green!

Other features of our new expansion include a much larger conference room, more bathrooms, and office space for our Administrative and Development staff! [Ed: woo!]

We love our current building, and are pleased to say that it will remain in good use, and in its current (historically-designated) state. But the new expansion will allow us to provide services to our clients on a broader scale, more efficiently, and in a space that fosters a collaborative atmosphere of dignity and respect. We invite our clients, neighbors, donors and volunteers to join us in envisioning the community center that we can become.

This mural, which used to appear on the outside facade of our building, will now adorn the hallway in the expansion.

In fact, we need all of you to make it happen. The actual construction of the building has been made possible by the DC Primary Care Association, through its Medical Homes DC capital initiative. With this support and gifts from several individuals and private foundations, we’ve secured more than 97% of the $8.3 million that the expansion will cost; but the remaining 3% (just over $120,000) is what will make the new facility operational. For that final amount, we’re turning to our generous community. Fortunately, we’ve been supported by this community for more than 35 years now!

If you, too, are excited for this expansion, please join our capital campaign by making a donation today: http://breadforthecity.org/capitalcampaign.

Be sure to check back soon for more posts about the upcoming developments. Thanks to all who are making this expansion possible.

Remembering Ted Pringle

In the past week, we've been flooded with condolences and remembrances of our beloved colleague and friend, Ted Pringle. (Read a message about Ted's passing, by our Executive Director George Jones.)

Ted was the director of our Food and Clothing Program -- and he was much more than that. Today, Bread for the City staff will join Ted's family at his memorial service. In the meantime, we would like to share some of the remembrances that our community has shared with us:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I received your email announcing the passing of Mr. Ted Pringle, my heart jumped. Not only will Bread for the City mourn the passing of such a giant of a man in word and deed, but the smaller ministries that he assisted in feeding others also mourn. Ted made the dream of feeding people during the stressed holiday season so easy. Ted, we will miss the width and generosity of your heart and the wisdom of your years! As you stand with other giants that have gone on before, we will continue to strive forward so that no one goes hungry day after day.

Sincerely,
Rev. Lyn Bell
SLS Ministries, Inc.

~

God’s true angel has gone to rest among God’s greatest! Being an imperfect man, but still a perfect example for many people to follow. This great person had a heart that was unselfish and prioritized it towards reconciliation which is God’s true plan for mankind. As we mourn the loss of your physical presence Ted, rest assured many feel the legacy of love and firm belief that you have helped instill in those who got to share close and intimate moments with you and also to those who knew you from afar. ( We will always have a part of you living within us.) To your family I offer my condolences because I know you must feel blessed to have been akin to such a driven force of life that should be recognized as one GOD’S go-getters. We love you Ted and appreciate the many life lessons we’ve received from you .

You’ll always be missed but also remembered in joy.
Anthony “Tony” Weldon

~

I've volunteered at Bread for the City for 20 years. One of the reasons, of course, is because it gives me the opportunity to give back to the community. Equally, I love to be around the upbeat, cheerful, supportive people who work there. Of these, Ted was the winner -- the most upbeat, cheerful and supportive of all. He seemed to take pleasure from everything he did and every person he encountered -- and in so doing, he gave pleasure back to me. There will be so many people who will miss him. One of them is me.

Roger Kuhn

~

To my Bread for the City family: I will always remember Ted as a role model for the commitment and good nature he brought to his work. It always lifted everyone around him. Ted never missed an opportunity to poke his head into our office upstairs just to say to us, always with a smile, "Good Morning, Legal!" No matter how stressed out we might have been at that moment, he always lifted our spirits. I was always amazed that someone could have worked so hard for so long at a job so demanding and always maintain such a positive spirit. We should all be so fortunate in our own lives.

May you rest in peace, Ted.

With love,
Ben Kull

~

PICTURE THIS—1996 AMERICORPS. I JUST GOT BACK INTO THE WORK FORCE AFTER MANY YEARS OF NOT WORKING. SINGLE PARENT, NERVOUS, ALONE. I LOOKED UP AND HE WAS LOOKING AT ME. HOLY CRAP! OUR EYES CONNECTED AND I SAW THE SMILE. THANK YOU GOD! HE WELCOMED ME….THAT WAS THE BEGINNING OF MY JOURNEY. WITH THE VOICE OF AUTHORITY. HE IS OUR GENTLE GIANT. FILLED WITH LOVE, LIFE, DIGNITY, RESPECT, SERVICE, AND JUSTICE. HE HELPED ME TO TURN MY NEGATIVES INTO HEALTHY POSITIVES. I WAS NEEDED AGAIN. I AM CALLED TO BE HERE AT BREAD. NEVER FORGETTING.

LOVE, JENETTE.

~

I am really saddened to hear of this. Ted was an amazing person. I remember him as always full of pep, always ready to get to work, and always always treating clients with dignity and respect, humor and kindness. Everyone who was around Ted felt he genuinely cared for them.

My favorite Ted story was this: When I was a LVC volunteer, Carrie DiRamio was bemoaning the fact one day that she never received nice notes. So, one Friday morning, when Carrie was running late and we were all assembling for a staff meeting, we decided that everyone would write a nice note to Carrie. Ted said, "Who's Carrie?" We all laughed at that, and laughed even more when his nice note was read: "Carrie--thanks for coming to work today. Ted."

Much love to all of you, what I call the B&Z family.

Jenny Schulz

~

Thank you, Ted Pringle, for showing us all how it can be done with grace and competence. The food program is incredible, and was run by an amazing man: strong yet gentle, organized yet caring, a mover yet patient. I'm grateful for his inspiration and all Ted accomplished; and very sad for our loss.

Marie Hoffman

~

Lastly, a slideshow composed by Nathan LaBorie:

Many people have asked us how they can support Bread for the City and Ted's family in this time, and we are so grateful for your support. Ted Pringle and his family did make a generous pledge to the capital campaign for Bread for the City's Northwest Center expansion, which they are now unable to fill alone. You can help the Pringle family fulfill that pledge: http://breadforthecity.org/TedPringle

We'll miss you, Ted.

As temperatures rise, fans are still needed!

As it is only mid-July and we have many more weeks of summer ahead of us, we are still looking for more electric fans for our clients! The entire region is suffering as temperatures continue to hover in the 80’s, 90’s, and above, but our clients, all of whom are low-income DC residents, have fewer options than most when it comes to escaping the heat. While we have all survived the first heat waves of the season, many of our clients have done so without the luxury of air conditioning. We have received several very generous fan donations, but the need for fans still outnumbers our current stock. If you haven’t already, please take a look around your home and bring in any unused and unwanted fans! We’ve begun to receive phone calls from clients inquiring about getting a free fan from Bread for the City, and we know the demand will only grow as the summer continues. As one client at the food pantry said this week, "It would help me so much if you could get me a fan. I don't care if it's broke, I'll fix it. With this heat, I need all the help I can get!"

Many of our clients are elderly, live in households with small children, or are on disability for chronic medical conditions, all of which are factors which make them and their families much more vulnerable to health complications during conditions such as these. It’s not only the degrees Fahrenheit: humidity, smog, and general poor air quality due to the high temperature all contribute to creating an unhealthy and uncomfortable environment for our clients who cannot afford AC. An electric fan might not seem like much of a contribution when compared to the power of the summer sun, but a cool breeze on a hot day can make a huge difference in someone’s quality of life.

Fan donations can be dropped off Monday-Friday from 9am-5pm at BFC’s Northwest Center, located at 1525 Seventh Street, NW. Questions? Please contact Kristen Kozlowski at 202-386-7612 or kkozlowski@breadforthecity.org.

Affordable Housing, or Tent City

Bread for the City client Ca’Vonn Ellis-Smith has lived in Shaw--just down the street from our Northwest center--for more than a decade. This week, however, Ca’Vonn has settled upon a new spot in the neighborhood: in a tent, in the gravelly lot at the corner of 7th and R streets.

Ca’Vonn has struggled with homelessness before; but this is different.

“This is like my Angela Davis moment,” laughs Ca’Vonn. She has taken a leading role in a direct action by ONE DC, a grassroots organizing group that works to build racial and economic equity in our communities. ONE DC successfully won an agreement from Mayor Fenty’s office to subsidize the development of affordable housing on the property -- specifically for families making less than $50,000. (Learn more about the history of these negotiations on ONE DC’s Tent City blog.)

In June, ONE DC learned that this commitment has been dropped. In response, they’ve taken direct action. On Saturday, ONE DC initiated a “territorial occupation” of this land, with Ca’Vonn helping to lead the way. They’ve since erected tents, a library and public art installations, developing what they call “an intentional community.” They’re not planning to leave, they say, until Mayor Fenty agrees to meet with them.

The building across the street from Parcel 42, Ca’Vonn points out, is “going coop” (i.e. opting out of a contract that subsidizes Section 8 housing). This means that many of its residents will lose their homes. Currently, Ca’Vonn receives a Section 8 voucher -- this is the only way that she and her children can afford to stay in their apartment. But even that doesn’t provide peace of mind. “The building I'm living in now has been considering going coop for years -- every year we don't know if our contract is going to get renewed, we don't know if we're going to have to find new housing.”

This experience has prompted Ca’Vonn to learn about housing and, ultimately, engage in direct action with ONE DC -- despite the fact that the tent city is technically an illegal activity. “I went back and forth about whether I would participate. I could be arrested and split from my family. Would I be able to afford legal representation?”

But Ca’Vonn decided to participate. “I'm fighting for affordable housing myself every day, within my building every day,” Ca’Vonn explains. “Why not join forces with the people who are fighting for a right to a decent place to live? We need to make a statement together to make the forces of power - developers, government, whoever - recognize that their plans affect everybody, and that this community should offer opportunities for every class of people.”

[Ca'Vonn Ellis-Smith, pictured right. Read more about One DC’s Tent City on Carlos QC’s blog here. Photo by Carlos.]

She adds: “These developers have built buildings that are huge and expensive and empty. Meanwhile families who've been here for decades are getting pushed out, becoming homeless.”

ONE DC encourages concerned DC residents to contact Mayor Fenty’s office (try Chief of Staff Carrie Kohns at 202.724.8815, or send a message online) and ask him to support the development of affordable housing, in part by meeting with ONE DC to discuss the plans for Parcel 42.

Residents are also invited to come by Parcel 42 to share food, water, “talent,” and fellowship with the people of Tent City; you are welcome to stay the night, too! “This action isn't just for poor people or any one kind of person,” explains Ca’Vonn. “It's for working class, double-income families, single families - it's for a vision of a community in which everyone can participate.”

Contact Rosemary Ndubuizu (http://www.blogger.com/rndubuizu@onedconline.org or 202.232.2915) for more detail.

Our First Client Gleaning!

Common Good City Farm

Over the past year, BFC has worked to expand our gleaning program to provide fresh, local produce to our clients. We are kicking off this season with a Glean for the City event on Saturday, July 17th and we need your help! We will travel to Parker Farms in Colonial Beach, VA. Join us in the fields, and help collect more than a ton of delicious sweet corn for our food pantry. The event will last from 9am to 2pm, including driving time. For more information, please contact Vince Hill.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

After weeks of unforgettable heat, the day dawned fresh and inviting, just the type of weather we needed for our first ever client gleaning project at Common Good City Farm. Sure enough, the day turned out to be educational, delicious, and fun.


Common Good City Farm, located about a half a mile from BFC’s NW center, is a neighborhood farm dedicated to raising awareness about food and food justice in DC. In addition to selling some of their produce to local restaurants, CGCF runs programs and workshops for low-income volunteers and school-aged children, as well as the curious, casual gardener. Several clients expressed interest in Common Good's "Green Tomorrows" program, which provides a bag of fresh produce to low-income residents in exchange for two or more hours per week of instructional, hands-on work on the farm.


Spencer Ellsworth and the other staff at Common Good City Farm generously took time to share their knowledge of urban gardening, basic plant care and food preparation.

Spencer Ellsworth, our CGCF guide for the day

They weren't the only ones ready to teach. Antoinette Jones, a grandmother born and raised in North Carolina, was one of the stars of the day. A long time client, Ms. Jones embodied the excitement and enthusiasm of our volunteers, waxing lyrical about a childhood in the country and the joys of gardening. She helped to make everyone feel at home in the garden, more specifically the cabbage patch. She taught everyone, even Spencer, a thing or two about how to keep your cabbages healthy and how to get the most out of your plants.


“It’s too late in the year for another [cabbage] head to grow, so you pop them out like collard greens...cut ‘em, clean ‘em, throw ‘em in the pot with a piece of meat, whatever you got and it taste just like collard greens!” Even if down home cooking isn’t your thing, Ms. Jones had some money-saving advice we could all use. “How many know how to make spices from the tops of your vegetables?” She asked the group as we rested in the shade. She patiently explained how to dry and prepare the tops of vegetables to make the spices normally sold for $7 or $8 dollars at the supermarket; chive from spring onions and a parsley substitute from carrot tops. “And now, what you’d buy in the store for $8 somethin’ dollars, you made it for free!”

Ms. Jones shows another client how to pull cabbage

But wisdom doesn’t always come from the most experienced among us. One of our clients, India, brought along her son and daughter at their expressed wish. “I told them about the trip and they were so excited...we love fruits and vegetables so anything they can dig up out of the ground, that’s good for them.” Antonio, 10, and Ania, 4, were a testament to their mother’s pride, ducking excitedly from patch to patch, pleading to be allowed to cut, pull, or dig something. “What can I do next?!” was a near constant chorus from the siblings and Ms. Jone’s young granddaughter Kayla.

Ania, 4, was our youngest gleaner of the day

These kids defy stereotypes; not only do they love healthy foods, but Antonio proclaimed his favorite vegetable to be broccoli! Kayla couldn’t contain her enthusiasm. “Whatever is green is good and I am going to eat it!" she declared amidst the still-tender squash beds. Ania’s enchantment was enough to capture the hearts of the entire group, as she pulled out a few my-size-beets and laid them gently in the bins to be brought back to Bread for the City with an ecstatic “Yeah!”.

The joy was palpable as our clients cut kale, pulled carrots and and clipped cucumbers to replace the canned goods that ordinarily adorn our food bags in the NW center.

Many of our clients were especially touched when they brought the gleaned produce back to our NW food pantry and saw how their hard work would translate into better food for them and their fellow clients. “This is so wonderful,” remarked one client. “”I’ve been [wanting] to volunteer for BFC for a long time! It’s great to pick produce for the pantry! We need to do this again!”

We ended the day tasting just-ripe peaches and discussing the meals people would make with the food they had picked with their own hands. BFC’s nutrition consultant Sharon Gruber spoke about the importance of “eating with the seasons,” using all the parts of the fruit and vegetables, and how to maximize your spending potential at farmer’s markets.

Many clients expressed an interest in returning to CGCF. None had heard of the urban farm before this trip, and all were impressed at the scale, scope, and mission of the organization’s work. Despite the convenient location of the community garden, few clients were aware of the possibilities that lay in this once-fallow field. Upon seeing the farm for the first time, one client remarked, “I never knew this garden was here! This is so cool to have right in our backyard!”

As we gathered for a picture to commemorate what we hope will be the first of many opportunities for our clients to be an active part of Bread, Kayla summed up our feelings in a way only a child can. “What a perfect picture for a perfect day!”

Our first ever client gleaners!

In Memory of our dear friend, Ted Pringle

I write to you today with a broken heart. After a hard fought battle with cancer, Clarence "Ted" Pringle, Bread for the City's Food and Clothing Director, passed away yesterday morning at home, his loving wife Donita by his side.

Ted is a hero to Bread for the City. When he came on board in 1992, our food program was serving less than 3,000 people each month. We now serve 10,000. Ted was a key part of the management team that received the 2004 Washington Post Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Management. Under Ted's leadership, our food program received the Capital Area Food Bank's Hunger Lifeline Award in 2005, and Ted himself received the 2009 Linowes Leadership Award by the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region for his visionary career devoted to fighting poverty in Washington, DC.

Yet behind those big numbers and fancy awards was a remarkable personality that transformed so many lives in our community.

Ted was a giant of a man, yet gentle. Ted ran a tight ship, yet was flexible. Ted knew how to find entire trucks of food for outrageously low cost; he also knew how small, generous actions can lighten the burden for a person in great need.

Ted often personally mentored Bread for the City clients, providing guidance and support as they worked to build a better life for themselves and their families.In fact, several such people went on to become Bread for the City staff members, working with Ted to make our food pantry ever more attuned to the needs of the community.

Ted was a man of few words, all of them rapid-fire and on target. As I write this, I'm trying to think of what Ted himself would want to say to everyone. What keeps coming to mind is this: "Get back to work! The job isn't done."

So that is what we'll do.

We all lost a friend this week. And as we face the unimaginable task of moving on in a world without Ted's strong presence, we will honor him through our work. We will serve. We will strive. We will live our lives with purpose, inspired by the memory of our dear friend, Ted.

(Ted touched the hearts of so many in our community. You can share your remembrances with his family, with our staff, or even on our blog, by emailing us. Thank you for your support.)

We Need Fans!

This week, as temperatures once again soar into the triple digits, just try to imagine summertime in D.C. without air-conditioning: the stifling heat, difficulties sleeping, dehydration and other issues that can arise from living without cool air circulation are nothing to laugh at. Thankfully, most of us will never have to experience these problems. However, our clients at Bread for the City are not always so lucky. Air-conditioning is expensive, and for many of our clients it can be unattainable.

Low-income residents of D.C. are disproportionately affected by the heat and the accompanying poor air quality, and have very few options for escaping such harmful environments. As we’ve noted on Beyond Bread before, the health impact of high temperatures can be severe. It is only the beginning of July, and the D.C. Metropolitan area has already recorded more heat-related deaths than took place in all of 2009. In the District, the month of June was the hottest on record, and the forecast for the next few weeks looks just as warm.

Bread for the City has to move fast to respond to these challenges; the weather waits for no one! In order to meet the needs of our clients living without AC, we are holding an electric fan drive at our Northwest center and we urgently need your help. There are so many ways for you to help us get fans out to our clients: organize a drive at your office or church, go through your own closets for fans that you never use, or get some new fans on your next shopping trip. Whichever way works for you, we desperately need your help to collect fans here at Bread for the City so that our clients can get safely and comfortably through the summer.

The next time you feel the relief of stepping into an air-conditioned building, at work or at home, remember those people in your community and city who do not get to experience that feeling. You can make a huge, material difference in the quality of life and the health of our clients this summer by donating an electric fan to Bread for the City.

Fan donations can be dropped off Monday-Friday from 9am-5pm at BFC’s Northwest Center, located at 1525 Seventh Street, NW. Questions? Please contact Kristen Kozlowski at 202-386-7612 or kkozlowski@breadforthecity.org.

Reusable Bags for the City

The D.C. bag tax has been in effect for almost 6 months now, and Bread for the City’s reusable bag campaign has been going on for just as long.

Every nickel counts when you are struggling to pay for basic items like food. By providing free, reusable bags at our food pantry, Bread for the City is helping our clients adjust to this tax. What’s more, clients use these bags to improve their own communities. As one client notes, “I want to keep D.C. and the river clean, but canvas bags cost too much. I’m grateful that ya’ll gave me a bag to use.”

Generally, clients at the Bread for the City Food Program are supportive of the bag tax. One food client, who has been with us for nearly a decade, is grateful for the tax, noting that it will help the environment and our community. “We can’t stand to be polluting. There is no excuse not to have a reusable bag.” To be fair, there are those who oppose the bag tax. Another long time client describes the tax as “unfair to customers” who already pay too much for food and taxes. Despite these differing viewpoints, both clients were ecstatic to receive reusable bags from us.

But Bread for the City itself can’t afford the additional cost of reusable bags - so we need help from the community to make this happen. A couple months ago, we contacted Eco-Bags, a reusable tote company, about a large donation. Ellen Feldman-Ornato (V.P. Strategic Marketing and Fun) informed me that they could not afford a direct donation. Instead, she suggested that their office could collect extra reusable totes. In a few short weeks Eco-bags sent us 175 bags! This simple idea evolved into our bag drive campaign. In the last month, a dozen organizations have signed up, netting us a quick 1,000 reusable bags!

Bag drives are gaining momentum largely because it's such an easy way to help. All it takes it a few all-staff emails and a collection bin, and your organization could collect hundreds of bags for our struggling clients. And you never know who has a secret stash. Last week, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance read about our bag drives on our blog. They had 100 bags lying around. Today, those very same bags are helping our clients (and keeping our city clean!).

As exciting as this is, we still need more drives to support our thousands of monthly food clients. You can help by setting up a bag drive at work, church, or any other social network. Spread the word! Donate idle bags to the people that need them most!

Please contact Jeffrey Wankel at jwankel@breadforthecity.org for more information.

A Hundred Dreams

Back in February, I told you a bit about Mr. T, an elderly and disabled client whom I work with in case management here at Bread for the City. One of Mr. T's goals was to secure safe and affordable housing. In order to reach this goal, he and I submitted many applications for site based subsidized housing. He was on a total of 11 waitlists. This left him in a constant state of stress because he didn’t know when stable housing was going to come through.


That’s why I asked all of our readers if anyone had a DVD player, so that Mr. T could watch some movies, especially Westerns, which help him relax. As often happens at Bread for the City, some generous folks stepped up and now Mr. T has a DVD player and a few new Westerns to watch.


Today I'm pleased to bring you an update: in March Mr. T signed a lease for a subsidized apartment! Now he pays 30% of his income towards his rent every month, which is affordable and sustainable. There is a bus stop right out front of his building, which Mr. T likes because it means he can get to Bread for the City and other places fairly easily.


When he moved into his new apartment, he didn’t bring any furniture with him, because the few pieces of furniture he'd had in his old place were infested with bedbugs. So I wrote him a referral to A Wider Circle, an agency in Maryland that provides gently used furniture (and other household items like sheets and dishes) to folks like Mr. T. The day that we picked up his furniture was a great day of cooperation amongst the staff at Bread for the City. One of Bread for the City's dependable drivers drove Mr. T and me out to A Wider Circle, where Mr. T worked with the volunteers to pick out furniture and dishes for his whole apartment. We loaded them into the truck and drove over to Mr. T’s apartment, where two other Bread for the City staff members met us to help unload all of the furniture into Mr. T’s apartment. We then made sure that we got his bed all set up before we left. I felt so grateful to be working alongside people who are ready to collaborate, even beyond their regular responsibilities, to help the individuals with whom we work.


When I spoke to Mr. T the next day, he told me, “I think I dreamed a hundred dreams last night, because that new bed is so comfortable.” This was a very different story than I heard from Mr. T back in February, when he'd been having lots of trouble sleeping because of stress. Even since moving into his new apartment, he was having trouble sleeping because he was sleeping in a lawn chair. I think he's excited about all of his furniture, but the new bed is hugely significant to Mr. T. Not only does he sleep better, but I think it's symbolic of something more. Hearing Mr. T talk about his new bed and all of the dreams he had while sleeping on it was enough to bring tears to my eyes.


The timing of all of this was especially great because Mr. T was able to celebrate at our Client Achievement Ceremony, hosted a few weeks ago. He really dressed up for the occasion. Mr. T feels very proud of all of his work, and told me that he plans to put his Certificate of Achievement up on the wall in his new apartment. Thank you, Mr. T, for allowing me to walk alongside you on this part of your journey.