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In this newsletter:
- The Story Behind Our Relationship with The Lost Kitchen
- We Have a New Website!
- Give & Take Tables Now Serve 13 Communities
- High School Students Build WCB Share Sheds
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Dear Supporters of Waldo County Bounty,
Welcome to our first newsletter! In just 16 months, so much has been accomplished, and we want to begin by sharing the story of our special relationship with The Lost Kitchen restaurant in Freedom, Maine. We first worked with Chef Erin French when we launched in 2020, and her thoughtful support – adding the option to donate to our campaign as part of The Lost Kitchen’s online checkout system – was a shot in the arm for our hunger-relief efforts.
“So many of our supporters reco gnize that dining out is a privilege that we wanted to engage them in supporting our community,” says Erin.
We thanked Erin and her partner Michael Dutton by dropping off a handwritten card in The Lost Kitchen mailbox. Within a few days, Erin reached out to our co-founder Colleen Hanlon-Smith to discuss a special program to better serve small farms and food-insecure community members moving forward. Erin proposed asking interested diners for a small donation to Waldo County Bounty in order to gain early access to The Lost Kitchen reservation system.
“The idea aligned perfectly with our shared commitment to our farmers and community,” says Hanlon-Smith. The Waldo County Bounty leadership team worked late into the night to create a new website, establish customer service capacities, and prepare materials for the media to dovetail the timing with The Lost Kitchen.
The Lost Kitchen announcement went out on May 18, less than a week after Erin had first reached out. Due to the overwhelming popularity of The Lost Kitchen, nearly $350,000 in donations poured in from across the country and around the globe, significantly bolstering Waldo County Bounty’s ability to support food-insecure residents with food from local small farms.
We cannot thank Erin, Michael, and the supporters of The Lost Kitchen enough for all they’ve done to further our hunger-relief efforts. Now on more secure footing, we can take a holistic approach to expanding our programs, including the Farm-to-Pantry, Gleaning, and Gardening initiatives. We are currently conducting a participatory planning process to gather ideas with stakeholders across all sectors to grow our collective efforts to strengthen the Waldo County food system for all!
If you’d like to add your voice to the process, please reply to this email and let us know you’d like to join the WCB Network. You’ll receive invitations to WCB Network meetings, which take place seasonally.
Thank you for receiving our newsletter. Read more of our latest news below. From myself and the Waldo County Bounty leadership team, have a fun, fruitful, and safe rest of the summer.
Best Wishes,
Mattie John Bamman
WCB Communications Coordinator
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Check out the new WaldoCountyBounty.me website!
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Our new website just launched, with more tools for those seeking food in Waldo County, more in-depth information about our programming, and new original articles, among other features. We completed the website update in part thanks to a grant from the John T. Gorman Foundation.
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Give and Take Tables are now operating in 13 Waldo County communities!
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Our Give and Take Tables provide a place where anyone can GIVE homegrown produce and anyone can TAKE it home for free. This summer, the tables are operating in Belfast, Brooks, Islesboro, Liberty, Lincolnville Beach, Monroe, Montville, Northport, Palermo, Searsmont, Thorndike, Unity, and Waldo. Find all the details, including a map of table locations, here.
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Students at the Ecology Learning Center Build WCB Share Sheds
The sheds offer free homegrown produce for anyone in the community
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There’s a new movement helping people share extra homegrown produce in communities across the U.S. called Share Sheds (#shareshed). Co-founding Waldo County Bounty (WCB) leadership team member Vińa Lindley loved the idea so much she made it a part of the WCB 2021 Give and Take Program...
Read the complete article here------>
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Waldo County Bounty works to improve access to locally-grown foods for people experiencing food insecurity in Waldo County, Maine. Tell your neighbors about the campaign, ask those with means to give, and follow and share Waldo County Bounty on Instagram and Facebook.
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May we help you with something else? Just reply to this email!
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