Coming Together as a Community: Our Response to COVID-19
Although the world is in a time of crisis, we are heartened by the way our community and the food community is responding. We are encouraged by the number of mutual aid efforts that have sprung up and how neighbors are helping each other. While we cannot gather in person, we can - and will - come together to strengthen our connections during this time.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shined a spotlight on the vulnerabilities inherent in our food system and underscores the importance of local food chains and community-sourced food. Now, more than ever, we must advocate for the importance of organic, seasonal produce and creating your own sources of food. As many are increasing their cooking and gardening efforts, this is a time to both think about systematic changes that need to happen in our larger food systems and value the resilience of local, community based systems. How can we strengthen the ability of our region to meet the needs of those who live here? If you have ideas, we’d like to hear them! Email us at info@commongoodcityfarm.org or drop us a line on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
We know that your needs have shifted due to the crisis, and we want to let you know exactly what we’re doing in response. We have partnered with Dreaming Out Loud to help coordinate produce donations from local farms including Owl’s Nest Farm, Three Part Harmony Farm, and UDC’s Firebird Farm, and are also distributing produce on a weekly basis in our community of LeDroit Park - all while using every precaution to ensure the safety of our staff, volunteers, and community.
If you are in need of emergency food access, DC Food Project is keeping an updated list of resources. If you are in our local neighborhood, you can also reach out to us directly at (202) 681 - 4343 to get connected to our next distribution. And if you are able to share your resources at this time, volunteers are needed to assist with meal distribution at schools and Food Rescue needs volunteers to transport donated food to those in need. Check our list of community resources here.
We also need your monetary donations to support our increasingly critical work. Please donate to Common Good City Farm. Your investment will make sure we get food into the hands of families most adversely impacted by COVID-19. You can also find many more ways to help by scrolling down this page to the section - How to help in your community.
Like other farmers, we are working hard to get our farm planted with healthy food. We will continue with our core mission and grow good healthy food for our community. Along with our usual food safety precautions, we are staying up to date on all experts’ recommendations to keep our team and the food we grow safe and healthy.
On the educational side, it's still important to us to get nutrition and garden information to students that we would usually see through field trips, in school and after school lessons, and open times in our farms/gardens. To increase our reach, we are collaborating with various nonprofits, including the Washington Youth Garden and City Blossoms, Foodprints to get a variety of online content available as a resource for teachers and families. Our educational partners are also making sure their demonstration spaces are still growing and productive as an additional source of food for our communities.
For learners of all ages, we have begun sharing more educational content on our social media and we are working with our network of workshop instructors to continue to offer more content, including this free webinar with Holly Poole-Kavana of Little Red Bird Botanicals about how to use herbs to manage stress.
We know our DC community will continue to respond and adjust. We will get through this together.
With Gratitude,
Common Good City Farm Team
