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| Merced Food Faire ’09 |
The Merced Hunger Task Force team came together with Merced County Food Bank, a few local Farmers and a great line up of non-profit organizations, offering Merced County a chance to learn about their local community resources. The attendance was good, the weather was perfect and vibe was warm!
The Hunger Task Force is a dedicated group of volunteers, community programs and non-profits that believe in helping improve the quality of life by offering better choices for those in need. I would definitely say they accomplished their mission last week combining educational information and entertainment that put smiles on a lot of faces!
The team is already looking forward to making “Merced Food Faire” an annual that will be the fall event not to miss!
Our tour of the Sorensen Farm began with an introduction to Melek, the family Anatolian Shepherd Dog. This intelligent breed originates from Anatolia (central Turkey), bred for guarding flocks of sheep. Melek takes her responsibility very seriously, spending all her time with her sheep protecting them from wild dogs, coyotes and other predators.
On Friday, October 19, we attended a portion of the Merced County Hunger Task Force – Food Summit. The topic and a concern is food insecurity in Merced County in relations to food banks, nutrition, obesity and participation.They reported on local produce for local markets and with farm land decreasing by over 2000 acres a year how it may effect the local small farmers. They discussed subsidized farmers, educating the public on the importance of buying locally grow produce and labeling food as grown locally. The best part was that their lunch meal was locally grown. (I personally believe that all county functions should follow in that example and only have locally grown food for their sponsored lunches and dinners.) Part of the summit was a Farmer’s Panel from Merced Alliance for Responsible Growth, who answered many questions form the attending participants. I find it interesting how interconnected all the programs are how important a roll local farmers have in a community’s health.
