A fundraising campaign that challenges you to eat locally for seven days from August 14-20th
Growing Chefs! Chefs for Children’s Urban Agriculture is excited to announce its second annual Going Local! Local Food Challenge. From August 14th to August 20th Growing Chefs! is challenging people around the world to eat only local food for seven days and to track their progress on the Going Local website. Optionally, participants can collect pledges from friends and family to help raise money for the Classroom Gardening Program. Founded in 2005, the Classroom Gardening Program teaches students grades 1 to 3 to grow and cook their own food and gets them excited about eating healthy. In 2011, Growing Chefs! worked with six hundred youth and more than one hundred chef volunteers in the Lower Mainland.
“Going Local! is an opportunity for people to celebrate the amazing food grown and produced in their local region,” says Helen Stortini, Executive Director of Growing Chefs! “Last year, one of our participants challenged himself to eat the ‘10 Mile Diet’! Part of the fun is coming up with what local means to you. It’s amazing to see how innovative and creative people get.”
Growing Chefs! is encouraging participants to define what local means to them, but are recommending the 100 Mile Diet. To encourage participation, the challenge also allows for 1-2 wild cards, such as coffee and tea, per day. Once participants register, they can share their experiences on the Growing Chefs! Going Local! website, as well as on their social media sites.
“Eating local is a great way to eat. It supports the local economy, has great environmental benefits and the quality of food grown close to home is often fresher and tastier. It really opens up your eyes to what can be grown in your own community,” says Stortini. “The Going Local! Challenge is a lot of fun. As well, it’s a chance for us to raise the money we need to bring our Classroom Gardening Program to even more students next year.”
Growing Chefs hopes to raise over $4,000 for their Classroom Gardening Program through the Going Local! challenge.
For more information, visit www.chefs.givecentre.com or www.growingchefs.ca/going-local
About Growing Chefs!:
Growing Chefs! is a non-profit society founded in 2005 that teaches kids about food and urban agriculture by sending volunteer chefs into elementary school classrooms. The chefs plant windowsill gardens with the students, then return every two weeks for 3.5 months to help care for the gardens and lead the students through fun lessons about vegetable exploration, cooking, sustainability, and healthy eating. It’s an opportunity for the chef community to share their immense knowledge with kids. www.growingchefs.ca
