For the past eight years, RAFI and the North Carolina Council of Churches have convened the Come to the Table Project, a network of faith based leaders and lay people committed to making the link between hunger relief and local farmers, and finding solutions that work for both!
In 2014, we expanded the scope of our work, grew our team from one staff member to three, took on new projects, and launched RAFI’s newest program – Beyond Hunger Relief. Here’s what Beyond Hunger Relief is all about:
Come to the Table will continue to be the bedrock of our food access work, and the 2015 conference series is just around the corner. For those of you in Eastern North Carolina, you will not want to miss out on our phenomenal gathering of the faith based food access community THIS Friday, January 23rd in Lumberton, NC! You can find registration information here.
Connect2Direct is an exciting new partnership between RAFI and Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) aimed at increasing farm direct sales and expanding local food access. Our immediate focus is supporting farmers markets with the ability to process SNAP payments, along with launching incentives programs at select markets to double the purchasing power of SNAP recipients. Click here to learn about upcoming trainings and events.
We know that increasing healthy, local food access is vital for consumers, but what’s in it for farmers? In 2014 we launched a 3 year Beyond Hunger Relief Research project in order to better understand the farmer perspective in food access work, as well as discover the best and most effective role for philanthropy and community based organizations to plug in. Stay tuned as we begin publishing our findings.
We wish you a most fulfilling year, and we thank you for your support!
Francesca Hyatt
Program Director
[email protected]
Salem Neff
Local Food Access Coordinator
[email protected]