Solid Ground’s Hunger, Food & Nutrition Impacts
As the cost of living has increased in recent years – including enormous rises in food prices – more people in Solid Ground’s community are experiencing food insecurity. Our food and nutrition programs center food as a tool to build community and work toward a more just society. As a leader in the food justice movement, we believe that access to healthy food is something everyone should have.
Our Community Food Education programs – including Cooking Matters and the Marra Farm Giving Garden – educate kids and adults about growing, buying, cooking, and eating nutritious foods. Our Food System Support program, which staffs the Seattle Food Committee, provides technical assistance and advocacy support to 27 area food banks. We also serve on food justice coalitions like the South Seattle Community Food Hub and leverage our robust transportation infrastructure to assist in delivery of bulk food purchases.
Read on for more details about this important work!
Cooking Matters: This program hosts six-week class series on healthy cooking skills, nutrition education, and food budgeting for adults, teens, and families living on low incomes. Classes are culturally responsive, using recipes from diverse communities. Each class is led by a team of three trained volunteers – Cooking Facilitator, Nutrition Facilitator, and Class Assistant – who work alongside a staff coordinator to facilitate fun, lively, interactive, and informative classes that engage participants in educational activities and prepare a shared meal together. (Hear from one Cooking Matters participant in the video posted below!)
Marra Farm Giving Garden: Since 1996, Solid Ground has cultivated a 3/4-acre Giving Garden on historic urban farmland at Marra Farm in the South Park neighborhood, where community members, volunteers, and staff grow thousands of pounds of fresh food each year. All the produce grown stays in the South Park community, nourishing residents via food banks, meal programs, health clinics, and more. We host vibrant gardening, nutrition, and environmental education programs for young people at the Giving Garden, including hands-on field trips that engage the senses (free to schools and organizations serving a high percentage of students living on low incomes).
Food System Support (FSS): Solid Ground’s FSS team staffs the Seattle Food Committee, which provides technical assistance, administrative services, and advocacy support to a coalition of 27 Seattle food banks. FSS helps Seattle’s food banks respond to increased community need through equitable distribution of emergency food. We support bulk purchases of critically needed foods and deliver millions of pounds of food to Seattle food banks every year. We also provide training and support covering everything from pest management, to grant writing, to how to operate a culturally competent food bank that meets the needs of its patrons.
Please help support this work through a monthly gift!
