This past summer, Archuleta Housing elders, the Girl Scouts and Food Coalition community volunteers joined forces to build and plant raised beds, line them with plastic sheeting, fill them with mulch, compost and soil, and finally plant a variety of vegetable and flower plants donated from a local organization. Learn about this effort and others to support nutrition security and health equity in Archuleta County.
By Rose Chavez | Food System/Food Equity Coalition
As we look back on 2021, we are grateful for all of our new and continued connections in the community. Community is at the heart of all of the efforts of the FSFE — Food Coalition, and working alongside individuals, groups and organizations through the past year has brought us great joy and deeper connections across the local food system.
As we embark on new and continued efforts in the new year, we pause to reflect back on what we have all accomplished together this past year toward our vision of an equitable community-based food system that we all can contribute to and benefit from.
Over the past year, we have continued to collaborate with the six Archuleta food pantries that function independently to offer nutritious food options for our neighbors continuing to face challenges in these unprecedented times. Through this collaboration, and in partnership with community organizations, together we piloted a mobile food pantry to reach even more of our neighbors, especially those living outside of town. Additionally, in partnership with the Pagosa Springs Middle School and Care and Share, we are helping to offer fresh fruit to students as a snack between meal times.
The FSFE — Food Coalition works to advance local food production and over the past year, we have partnered with the community to learn more about growing in our climate, facilitated the donation of local foods from backyard growers to food pantries, and developed a family garden education and heritage cooking program. We highlighted local ingredients and heritage recipes through our seasonal food demonstrations hosted at the food pantries.
As we look into 2022, we are excited to connect with the community to facilitate solutions from ideas to implementation, like the Vista Lake Park, and to learn together about the needs and ideas of the community through the Nutrition Security-Health Equity Assessment. We continue to advocate on behalf of our neighbors for a food and healthcare system that promotes health and prevents disease.
We invite you to join us on Thursday, Jan. 13, from 2 to 3 p.m. for our community conversation to reflect on the past year and look forward together to 2022. Join us to learn more and understand how you can become involved in contributing to an equitable and sustainable food system in Archuleta County. Join us on Zoom — https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83978862954 — for the virtual meeting.
If you have any questions, please contact us at fsfearchuleta@gmail.org or (401) 371-3227. To donate to support the work of Healthy Archuleta, doing business as FSFE — Food Coalition, please visit our website: https://www.foodcoalition4archuleta.org/donate.html.
