[Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . ----- Original Message ----- From: Margo Baldwin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2001 12:56 AM Subject: Community Supported Kitchen? Would love to know if anyone's heard of using the CSA model for a community restaurant. We have created something we call a Community Cafe and are working on a Community Kitchen initiative (see below), but want to get out of the restaurant BOX. Just as CSA's make it clear that they are NOT a supermarket, we'd like to make it clear that we're NOT a restaurant. Because we operate within a small rural community, we can't support a local restaurant, at least not during the week for breakfast and lunch. If, however, we use the idea of the community buying shares of meals or subscriptions, then maybe we can make it work. Would love to hear anyone's thoughts. Thanks so much, Margo Baldwin Community Caf� Association, Inc. P.O. Box 135, South Strafford, VT 05070 802-765-4480 http://www.straffordvt.net/cafe/index.html 7/7/01 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE South Strafford, VT Contact person: Margo Baldwin (802-765-4869, [EMAIL PROTECTED]) The Community Caf� Association, Inc. announces six grant awards totaling $15,500 in support of its COMMUNITY KITCHEN initiative and ongoing mission to enliven and revive small town public life. The awards include $7,500 from the Upper Valley Community Foundation, $5,000 from an anonymous charitable donor, $1,000 from the Anne Slade Frey Charitable Trust, $1,000 from the Ben & Jerry�s Community Action Team, a $500 planning grant from the Preservation Trust of Vermont, and $500 from the Mascoma Bank Foundation. The Community Caf� Association, Inc. (CCA) was founded as a nonprofit community organization two years ago in South Strafford, VT. During that time it has accomplished an impressive list of community projects (see attached list) and established itself as an exciting new model for rural community development. It is creating new ways for community members to come together around food and arts, ways that are creative, low-cost, collaborative, and fun. The integration of food and arts seems to be central to this effort. People gather most easily around food and in celebration of artistic expression. The Full Moon regularly sells out its events, serving 50 to 75 meals in the process. This food and arts "formula" works because it is whole, integrative and alive. It works because it feeds people both physically and spiritually. It works because it is reclaiming something that many people have lost: a sense of place and connection to their own communities, to the meals produced there, to the artists at work there, to an entertainment that is distinct and apart from the mass media world of TV and Hollywood. It works because it�s small-scale, quirky and local, not mass produced, formulaic, and corporate. The CCA is also a model for a community enterprise where entrepreneurial initiative is married to nonprofit mission. In many ways this model offers the best of both worlds: business in the service of community and nonprofit mission creatively driven forward with entrepreneurial verve and financial savvy. It creates opportunities for working with like-minded community organizations, providing an attractive and affordable venue for their fundraising activities. Similarly, partnerships with regular for-profit businesses also offer opportunities to explore and support community that will enhance their own customer and employee bases. The CCA�S COMMUNITY KITCHEN initiative will create a model for a community-owned and operated eatery that uses local food, supports sustainable agriculture, employs local youth, may act as a community soup kitchen, connects farmers to consumers and consumers to the land, celebrates regional and seasonal cuisine, and educates community members about the nutritional and health benefits of eating local, seasonal, and fresh foods. In a time of increasing concern about the safely and long-term viability of global food systems (genetically modified foods, nutritionally empty fast foods, Mad Cow and Hoof & Mouth diseases, increased food-borne illness, inhumane factory-farming methods, and the loss of small farms and rural landscapes) communities everywhere need ways of securing their own local food production and distribution systems. As the success of the Full Moon Caf� has already demonstrated, there is a tremendous need and a demand for local community eateries, especially when the eating takes place in conjunction with its community arts activities. The COMMUNITY KITCHEN initiative expands on the Full Moon�s success by focusing on its food mission. Up until now the CCA�s community mission has been primarily concerned with the arts. A generous grant from the Upper Valley Community Foundation last summer enabled the organization to hire a part-time community coordinator whose efforts have resulted in a 60 % increase in arts activities, a 100% increase in membership (even with higher membership fees) and a ten-fold increase in volunteer activity. Now the CCA needs to address its food mission in a much more comprehensive way. This will entail: . Hiring an experienced and professionally trained Chef-Manager to make the restaurant end of the enterprise sustainable and profitable over the next three years. This will be accomplished by making the Full Moon Caf� a unique community-based eating place using locally grown and organic foods and emphasizing fresh, seasonal and regional cuisine. . Investing in the necessary professional kitchen equipment, including a professional range, range hood, and convection oven, and professional refrigeration equipment, including commercial refrigerator and refrigerated display case, and freezer. . Creating the beginnings of a local food network, linking farmer to consumer and consumer to the land. This will involve partnerships with the Vermont Fresh network and Slow Food USA. A series of Slow Food dinners was initiated in April and will continue through the summer and fall. . Educating community members about the benefits (nutritional, environmental, economic) of supporting local agricultural production and sustainable agricultural practices. The caf� will host a series of forums on food and community issues. There is already talk of building a community green house for winter produce production. Strafford is a small town in a rural setting, with approximately 450 families (1000+ people). The Caf� is open to everyone and attracts people from all walks of life, all ages, and newcomers and old-timers alike. There are well over 250 members from Strafford and the surrounding communities the Upper Valley area. The CCA has developed an e-mail list of over 600 patrons and supporters that have asked to get weekly e-mail announcements of caf� events. Summary In an age of deteriorating global food and energy systems, local enterprise and carefully tended social capital stocks will be key to community renewal and even survival. The time has come for communities everywhere to reclaim their own food systems, their own arts and entertainment, and their own energy resources. Support for community enterprises like the Full Moon Caf� can result in positive cascading effect of creating other local micro-enterprises (youth ice cream wagon, local radio production, prepared specialty foods) and new arts initiatives. The connection with local agricultural production should help preserve the rural character of the land and maintain peoples� connection to it. Entrepreneurial initiative with nonprofit mission can help galvanize broad-based community support and investment rather than the widespread passive acceptance and/or resentment of an increased property tax burden. Success leads to more success and empowers community members to risk embracing new ideas and envisioning a better, more sustainable future. COMMUNITY CAF� ASSOCIATION ACCOMPLISHMENTS (5/99-5/01) . ARTS PERFORMANCES: The Full Moon Caf� has produced over 100 musical, literary, and theatrical events that have earned over $18,000 in cover charges and $9,500 in musician fees, primarily involving local musicians and writers. With a generous Better Communities grant the caf� space was renovated to make it into a better performance space by taking down the wall between the two rooms. This, along with the purchase and installation of a professional quality sound system, (one of the best in the Upper Valley area) and the beginnings of a professional lighting system has made the Full Moon Caf� one of the most sought after venues for performing artists in the area. All of this has been managed by a highly dedicated group of volunteers on the Performance Committee. . ART GALLERY: The Full Moon Caf� has provided gallery space for more than 18 art shows, generating over $15,000 in sales for the artists and earning $3000 in art commissions for the cafe. The purchase and installation of a professional hanging system has allowed for easier and efficient hanging of shows. All this has been successfully managed and coordinated by a volunteer Arts Committee. . COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS: The CCA has developed partnerships with more than a dozen community organizations, including the Elizabeth Mine remediation groups, Thetford, Academy, Newton School, Sharon Academy, the Morrill Library, Thistle Theater group, the Strafford book club, PEN north, Parish Players, Neighbors Helping Neighbors, and Cabin Fever University, among others. It serves as a vital community meeting place for small business and community groups of all kinds. . COMMUNITY KITCHEN: The CCA is creating a new model of local, small-scale eatery, a "Community Kitchen," where food is cooked and served by community members in ways that are collaborative, fun, and connected to the local agriculture. At the same time, it�s a business that has generated over $185,000 in food sale income with an increasing percentage going to local farmers and food producers. The food is fresh, unprocessed, often organic and healthy. Partnerships with local farmers and food producers, including Berry�s Organic Eggs and the Strafford Organic Creamery, Windy Hill Farm, Sugar Plum Hill and King Arthur Bakeries, Luna Bleu, Killdeer, and Longwind Farms and soon-to-be others will create the beginnings of a broadening local food network. "Adoption" by more conventional restaurants will support a series of "Slow Food" dinners starting in April 2001 to showcase locally grown and artisan foods in meals prepared by professional chefs. The Full Moon Caf� is working with the Vermont Fresh Network and Slow Food USA to publicize and support the Community Kitchen model. . LOCAL & YOUTH EMPLOYMENT: Operation of the Full Moon Cafe has created almost $100,000 in local employment, including the hiring of many young people who have now been trained in food preparation and restaurant work. These jobs are well paid, safe, convenient, educational, and fun. They keep young people connected to other community members who might never see them if they worked outside of town, especially since high schools are all in other towns. . COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION: The CCA is a membership organization with over 250 paid individual ($25), family ($40), sustaining ($100) and organizational ($100) members from Strafford and surrounding communities. This level of membership support demonstrates a significant commitment to the CCA and its mission and has generated almost $11,000 in membership dues. The CCA stays in weekly communication with its members, patrons, and friends by way of a 600-person e-mail list, a highly cost-effective and efficient mechanism for publicity and marketing efforts. . COMMUNITY MEDIA CENTER: The Full Moon has two computers available for free internet use and a satellite for TV access, special sports events and educational programming. Part of the CCA�s mission is to explore the true community uses of electronic technology. This has led to the creation of a Strafford, VT web site where a community-wide calendar of events is kept current, along with information about the town and other community organizations. Future initiatives will include investment in satellite-based high-speed internet access and the production of a community internet radio show. . COMMUNITY ENTERPRISE MODEL: The marriage of a real community-owned business with a nonprofit mission has tremendous potential. It�s a model that can be used and improved on by other communities and provide impetus for other entrepreneurial initiatives. Plans are being made to write up the CCA story as a book for national media attention.
