April 19, 2010

Mr. Ken Flatto

First Selectman

Independence Hall

725 Old Post Road

Fairfield, CT  06824

Re:    The Fairfield Organic Teaching Farm

Dear Ken,

I have lived in Fairfield for 20 years with my wife Lori and our five children and truly love our town, both for its history and sense of community. It is in this spirit that I am writing you to convey my strong support for the establishment of the Fairfield Organic Teaching Farm.

As a local-sustainable food advocate, I urge the town of Fairfield to set aside suitable and accessible town-owned land for this important learning opportunity for Fairfield children and families. I am the chef/owner of The Dressing Room restaurant in Westport and President and CEO of Wholesome Wave Foundation, an organization which nourishes neighborhoods by supporting increased production and access to healthy, fresh and affordable locally grown food. I encourage you to look into our work by visiting our website at wholesomewave.org.

There is a growing movement throughout America, in towns just like Fairfield, to create a more healthful, organic and sustainable food future. As one of the first towns in America, Fairfield has a rich farming heritage, yet most of our farmland is gone. The Fairfield Organic Teaching Farm would enable us to preserve some of our agricultural history while also creating a vital, local food-production source, a center of sustainable food education, and a notable attraction in Fairfield County.

I strongly encourage town bodies to act quickly and decisively to make this unique and timely project a town priority for 2010. Please consider me an important source of guidance to the champions of this project as they generously donate their time and expertise to ensure that Fairfield is well positioned to become a shining example of what a sustainable community can look like.

Sincerely,

Michel Nischan

Whole Foods Market and Avon Theater have teamed up for a special Earth Month celebration and screening of two films. Proceeds will benefit Wholesome Wave.

Who: Avon Theaters and Whole Foods Market to benefit Wholesome Wave

What: “Retake Our Plates” film series: http://www.letsretakeourplates.com/

When:

Food Inc.:  Saturday April 17^th

Tapped:    Saturday April 24^th

^{Showtime @ 12:00pm}

^{Local and Natural Food Sampling @ 1:30pm}

Where: Avon Theater Film Center 272 Bedford Street, Stamford, CT 06901

Tickets: Members - $6 / Students & Seniors - $7 / Nonmembers - $10

These GREAT events will benefit Wholesome Wave Foundation. (http://wholesomewave.org/)

The Wholesome Wave Foundation, a Westport-based non-profit which is responsible for bringing farmers’ markets and other community-based sustainable food initiatives  to Fairfield County, has announced two job openings:

- Farm to Community Project Coordinator
-  Deputy Director, Charitable Ventures

The mission of Wholesome Wave is to “encourage and support increased production, availability and access to fresh, healthy, and affordable locally grown food for the benefit of all.” Interested? Please visit http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Org/181027-42 for full job descriptions and scroll to them bottom for “how to apply”.

This organization has caught the attention of the Fairfield County Community Foundation, which awarded the non-profit a $25,000 grant to purchase a refrigerated truck for their Park City Harvest Neighborhood Farm Stand Program.This farm-to-community program brings healthy, affordable produce to underserved communities in Bridgeport.

Park City Harvest, a project of the Wholesome Wave Foundation and the Healthy Bridgeport Alliance, is bringing healthy, farm-fresh food to the Bridgeport community.

As one of Wholesome Wave Foundation’s core programs under the “Nourishing Neighborhoods” campaign umbrella,  created by chef and sustainable food advocate Michel Nischan and Wholesome Wave Chairman Gus Schumacher, the Neighborhood Farm Stand Program brings farm stands deep within neighborhoods of underserved Bridgeport, Connecticut communities three days a week. The Park City Harvest farm stand pilot program, supported by the Double Value Coupon Program, sells healthy, locally grown produce from Connecticut farmers. Consumers have three locations to choose from:

• Wed. - Bridgeport Health Department, 752 East Main Street, 10-7
• Thurs. -Marina Village, Columbia Street and Ridge Avenue, 10-3
• Fri. - St. Vincent’s Medical Center, 2800 Main Street, 10-7

This “Nourishing Neighborhoods” program is a five-fold stimulus to:

1. create fresh produce availability in “food deserts”
2. develop local jobs to manage neighborhood “market” stands
3. improve well-being by offering healthier food choices to vulnerable families
4. provide income support to the farmers selling in these neighborhoods
5. serve as a solid investment in reducing future health care costs by decreasing the growing diabetes and obesity problem.

Market Box Nutrition Program

Launched at the Norwalk Community Health Center (NCHC) as another one of Wholesome Wave Foundation’s “Nourishing Neighborhoods” core programs, the Market Box Nutrition Program purchases surplus fruits and vegetables from the Westport farmers’ market, pack the produce into half-bushel boxes, then deliver the boxes at an affordable and subsidized cost to families that have little access to fresh food. Each box, a $20-25 value, may be purchased for $6 in Food Stamps or Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Farmers Market Nutrition vouchers. The program benefits families that want to purchase fresh, locally grown produce but do not have access to transportation or the economic means to shop at farmers’ markets.