Spotlight

Our spotlight this week is on Local Matters. We asked Lauren Edwards, Manager of Operations, to go more in depth about Local Matters and what all they have to offer.

What is the goal of Local Matters?
Local Matters is taking a leadership role in answering the question of, “what does a healthy community look like through the lens of local food?” Our work directly confronts the childhood obesity and diabetes epidemics; provides healthy food access in our communities; supports family farmers and the growth of our local food economy; and promotes a sustainable natural ecosystem. Our mission is to transform the food system to be more secure, prosperous, just and delicious! We do this by teaching kids and families about healthy Ohio-grown foods, by increasing access to wholesome, delicious food, and by advocating for fair food policies.

What types of projects and services does Local Matters provide?
We work primarily in three programmatic areas: Education, Access, and Supply. Our primary Education programming is Food Matters. We go into classrooms and teach an extensive 24-week program to children aged pre-K through 2^nd grade. This program helps give children a language to talk about and understand healthful food and how choices they make affect their bodies. Our primary Access programming is the Veggie Van. The Van serves those who do not have access to healthful food in their community. It is contracted to locations in the community that act as hubs for the distribution of bags of healthful food. And for Supply (and partially Access) we have Growing Matters. Our Growing Matters program is where we need the most volunteer support! We are working in partnership with the YMCA of Central Ohio and the Mid Ohio Foodbank to create a 1-acre learning garden at the Hoover YMCA. This garden will provide food to central Ohioans through our Veggie Van program and the YMCA summer camps. These are just a sample of the programs we offer- a more comprehensive list can be found on our website (www.local-matters.org)!

How can the community get connected with Local Matters to use these programs and serves, and who is eligible?
All of our programs are in coordination with partner organizations. Anyone affiliated with these organizations, or living in the area of a Veggie Van hub, can already utilize any of our available programs. If you’re interested in bringing a program to your area, check out our website! Each program page has a form to fill out to request further information.

How responsive are the students with the Food Matters and School Gardens program?
The Food Matters/Growing Matters programs are both incredibly popular with all students. Teaching children easy ways to think about healthful food, and allowing them to participate in the preparation and cooking of healthful snacks, gets them excited and connected to what they’re putting in their bodies!

Tell us more about the Farmer’s Market and your partnership with The Greener Grocer.
Located in the heart of the Historic North Market in downtown Columbus, The Greener Grocer carries a wide variety of seasonal products from organic and sustainable farms throughout central Ohio. We emphasize local and artisanal products from small-scale farmers and producers including specialty fruits and vegetables, honey, maple syrup, flour and Snowville Creamery Milk. Created in January 2008 to increase access to local fruits and vegetables for Columbus consumers, we have created a thriving weekly market that sells products from a wide network of regional farmers. The Greener Grocer is the hub of Local Matters’ Farm to Fork program and allows us to put our commitment of supporting small to medium size farms into practice.

Are there any plans to add new programs or services in the future?

At the moment we are primarily working to expand the reach of our current programming. Several new Veggie Van stops are in the works, and we’re busy determining all fall Food Matters classes.

What is something that people may not know about Local Matters?
People generally know we exist, but not much about our programs! But even people who are familiar with us may not know that our Executive Director is a trained chef, studied at the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park, New York, and the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners in Piedmont, Italy, and was the original chef for G. Michael’s bistro here in Columbus!

What types of volunteer opportunities are available?
We utilize volunteers in almost every aspect of our programming! There are opportunities during the day, evenings, and weekends. Some are one time and a few are a full month commitment. Each month I send out an email to the volunteer list and people sign up for whatever fits into their schedule! Anyone can join our volunteer email list and submit a form. The only different opportunity is with the Hoover Y Learning Garden- individuals interested in being a part of this pilot project go to a website and sign up for shifts directly. All of the details are on the Handson Central Ohio site, but to sign up for shifts people need to go to here. Sign up for an account and sort the opportunities by Event Type-Hoover Y Learning Garden, then scroll down to sign up for any of the open shifts! We need all of the help we can get, and prior experience is not necessary!

Are there any upcoming events?

Every day is a great day to help create a more sustainable food system! As far as volunteer events go, we use our general email list to send out all needs other than the Hoover Y Learning Garden. Sign up and you’ll start getting emails shortly afterwards. There are other ways to help- you can sign up to be a Friend of Local Matters for as little as $10 a month, you can buy local, and you can support other aspects of the local food movement. You can search our online guide for locations here.