FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Come support the Lots to Gardens’ Summer Youth Gardeners and Youth Interns in their quest to attend the 12th Annual Rooted in Community (RIC) Conference this summer in Durham, North Carolina by attending their second dinner of the season on Friday, June 11, 2010.
The Youth Interns will host a dinner featuring locally grown ingredients that are not to be missed. Guests will also enjoy live music provided by budding local musician Tom Smith. Admission is $10 per person. Discounts can be offered. Proceeds will be used to send youth to the RIC Conference.
The dinner will take place at St. Mary’s Nutrition Center of Maine at the corner of Bates and Walnut Streets in Lewiston. The festivities begin at 6:30 pm. To reserve your seat or for more information, please call Ari Rosenberg at 513-3844.
Lots to Gardens, a program of St. Mary’s Health System, uses sustainable urban gardens to create access to fresh food, empower youth, and build community in Lewiston, Maine. Through this work they raise community awareness about local food systems and work with youth to create solutions to address food insecurity.
The youth programming at Lots to Gardens is focused on providing local youth from diverse backgrounds with valuable skills and opportunities to become leaders in our community. The summer youth crew participates and plays an integral role in all of our projects; caring for our gardens, helping organize and run community events, volunteering at the Food Pantry, and supporting our community gardeners. In addition, all of our youth gardeners also receive valuable nutrition education, job training, and participate in workshops aimed at providing them with the tools they need to become agents of change.
The Rooted in Community National Network (RIC) is a national grassroots network that empowers young people to take leadership in their own communities. They are a diverse movement of youth and adults working together and committed to fostering healthy communities and food justice through urban and rural agriculture, community gardening, food security, and related environmental justice work. Every year members of the RIC network organize a national summer conference that seeks to bring youth and adults who are involved in the food justice movement together from all across the country. The conference gives everyone the opportunity to learn from each other, build stronger connections, and celebrate the local agriculture of the region hosting the conference.
