On February 23, 2007, the Food Security Partners “unveiled” at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, TN. Over 100 people attended this important event which included a breakfast featuring locally grown products (e.g., honey, farm fresh eggs, sausage from an organic farm), special remarks from Mayor Bill Purcell and Commissioner of Agriculture Ken Givens, and a keynote address by Mark Winne, co-founder of the national Community Food Security Coalition.
This first-ever coming together of food security advocates representing agricultural, business, government, social service, food service, faith-based, and educational sectors of Middle Tennessee provided a space for disparate groups to collectively reflect on the assets and challenges of our local food system. The gathering was characterized by energy and excitement, even though the participants pondered the gravity of food-related problems in our region, because of the holistic and collaborative focus of the Food Security Partners.
As Mark Winne highlighted, simple solutions to everyday problems such as hunger, obesity, and food insecurity rarely suffice. He stated, “There was a time in the past when communities could help themselves simply with the resources they had at hand. The old fire bucket brigades in the days of yore worked tolerably well when life was simpler and buildings were smaller. But what happened? The buildings got bigger and taller and now there were more of them, and the members of the local fire brigade grew tired of watching buildings burn to the ground. Like matters of public safety, the problems in our food system are too wide in scope and complex in nature to find their resolution in some form of the local bucket brigade. They demand and require both a soulful compassion and an assertive form of civic attention that looks into every nook and cranny of the community for answers.”
Though the Food Security Partners are still figuring out how we will work to promote a secure and healthy food system for our region that ultimately leads to more healthy food for more people, the launching of the coalition served in part to ensure community members from every nook and cranny of our region have a chance to engage in our work. We have much work to do, however, reaching out to diverse groups in our region and finding ways for everyone to join in the movement to promote food security is the first step to the success of the Food Security Partners. To learn more about the Food Security Partners please visit our website at Food Security Partners of Middle Tennessee
or attend our next Partner Meeting on March 23 from 8am-10am at the University School of Nashville.
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