Good News on City Year!
J M
Good news everyone!
Chasity’s information about the event was right on, and I was able to speak with the City Year person, Jerry Illar, today about the May 18th event, and they are totally ready to have us! They were actually looking for some way to bring healthy foods to the event, as they are only having pizza and potentially some pasta salad, so we are helping them a lot with our project.
Here are some details:
The Spring Fling is a block-party event that City Year is putting on in conjunction with other co-sponsors, such as the DC Fire Department, Metro Teen AIDS, and a few others (I asked Jerry to send us their flyer). This will be similar to an event they hosted at CW Harris in November (see http://cityyeardc.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/community-engagement-why-its-important/). It will be held this May 18th from 1 to 4, and they ask that partners show up around 12:15 to 12:30 to get situated on site.
They are hoping we can get the Farm Truck from DCCK as well—Jennifer has handled that communication with them—and they will have the truck in the parking lot with the DCFD. The vehicles will be to the left of the Kelly Miller picture (attached), and the food stuff will be to the right. Partners will be able to park around back.
I asked Jerry about the electricity for the blender, and he said that he will work on getting information about outlets that are on the outside of the school, and take care of extension cords, etc. for us. I asked him if they already were getting tablecloths for their tables, if we could just have one of theirs instead of buying one (especially since they will know what size table they are using).
Their rain plan is to move everything into the gym (which definitely has outlets) so that is good as well. I told him we would bring in all of our own produce and volunteers. He was head over heels about the idea of the strawberry smoothies and said that we could bring in as many different types of healthy food as possible!!!
City Year staff have already canvassed the Lincoln Heights area and handed out flyers to students, parents, and community residents, as well as homes whose children are scheduled to start attending Kelly Miller in the fall. They are estimating between 400 and 500 people showing up. I explained to him that we are solidifying our May 29th activity for the Strawberries & Salad Green Day, and that we hope to encourage the kids to have strawberries that day as well (I’m assuming there is more than one option for lunch that day). I mentioned that we might have some strawberry plants and seeds to hand out too. He suggested that we connect with the gym teacher who started a community garden some time back, but there was a lack of interest from the students/families. If we give them seeds, they can start using the garden again (these are large planters just outside the building in a little triangle area with benches).
I bought some strawberry seeds that we can show, and they were $2.99 and on the package, they said the time to start planting was February to April. So, we could encourage the students we meet both days to work with their gym teacher on that (or if we see the gym teacher, tell him/her). I also bought a magazine that had a huge strawberry dish on it for display & recipes (see http://www.eatingwell.com/food_news_origins/organic_natural/dirty_dozen_plus_14_foods_you_should_buy_organic?page=3), and I think we should try to make the strawberries we buy for the event be pesticide-free if possible. The just-blooming strawberry plants I saw at the hardware store today were going for $2 each. And while at Whole Foods, this month’s coupon booklet has strawberries on the front and strawberry recipes on the back. Does anyone want to see if Whole Foods can donate some of these coupon booklets to us? I grabbed about 20, and will pick up some additional ones during the week as well. I guess May really is the month for Strawberries!
That’s all for now!
Jean
