
Introducing Our 2024-2025 Alumni Advocacy Leads
CONWAY — Sarah Lane was cheering for the carrots in the Ida Burns Elementary School learning garden in Conway. “We have some carrots that look like they’re going to be ready next week, so I’m crossing my fingers that we can use them before the kids leave for the summer,” she said before school was out. May 24 was the students’ last day, and the carrots “looked good,” she said.
Think the Farm Bill doesn’t affect you? Think again. Most people know the Farm Bill as covering agricultural laws and farmer subsidy payments. But it also covers a whole lot more, and impacts everyone who eats in this country—in other words, everyone.
Students gather around tables early in the morning in the Durant-Tuuri-Mott Elementary auditorium, enjoying yogurt parfaits on one of their last days of school. Not so long ago, many of these students would not have entertained the idea of eating yogurt with fresh fruits and granola.
MacQuiddy Elementary students were given a special treat Friday when local farmer Javier Zamora visited during lunch break to teach them about strawberries.
In a town north of Los Angeles, Mar Vista Elementary School stands almost completely surrounded by farmland. On one side is a field of strawberries, the crop that made the town famous. On the other, it’s rows and rows of hoop houses containing what they’re pretty sure is artichokes. The town has long been an agricultural community, and many of the students at Mar Vista are from families that work in the fields.
FoodCorps is honored to present Amarilys with this year’s Alumni Service Leadership Award. When Amarilys Olivo (NJ ’17) founded a community garden, she decided to call it the “Garden of Worker Bees.” Bees work collaboratively to take care of their community; each bee has its role and contributes to the well-being of the whole. Amarilys wanted to emulate that work ethic to create opportunities for learning, building healthy lifestyles, and connecting with fellow community members.
Thanks to the efforts of a diverse coalition of advocates, the House’s historically bad farm bill proposal did not garner enough votes to pass. Also, FoodCorps is working with fellow national service organizations to call on Congress to again reject the President’s proposal to eliminate funding for national service.