The Second Wednesday of Every Month

6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Join the social innovators in your community to learn, plan, and grow.

November 2008 Forum Theme: Hunger

Why is food not the answer to hunger? What are the root causes of hunger, here and around the world? Is nutritous food a human right? This month's forum is all about the causes for and answers to hunger.

Looking at an old problem from a new perspective can help us imagine a solution. That’s why we invited artists to turn ten used refrigerators into their own creative statements about a problem that hurts us all: hunger. Participating artists chewed on some difficult questions: How does hunger diminish a community? Why are some cupboards bare while others overflow? What can each of us do to end food shortages—in our own community and around the world?

Find your passion. Take action.

- Download full description of the November Forum Program
- Download Bios for November Forum

PROGRAM
Welcome: Amy Pearl, Springboard Innovation

Panel on Hunger: Community activists and experts discuss varied efforts and ideas to grow healthier communities with everything from gardening to gleaning. They also answer your questions.

- Facilitated by Clare Simons, Founder of the GleanShare Network

1. Sharon Straus, Sunshine Pantry - Founder and Director
2. JaneAnne Morton, Urban Gleaners
3. Joan Ottinger, Oregon Department of Education - Farm-to-School and School Gardens
4. John Teton, International Food Security Treaty - Founder and Director
5. Dan Bravin, City Garden Farms LLC
   

Professional Services Workshops~

• School Gardens. Matt Bibeau, Tryon Life Community Farm.
  Designed to walk parents, teachers and community members through all of the stages necessary in starting or expanding your school's garden and garden education program.
  
• Working Within Organizations. Meg Busse and Erin Barnhart, Idealist
  The benefits on working with an existing organization rather than creating a
  new one. Expertise on volunteering locally and abroad.
• Location Aware Media Prototyping. Anselm Hook, Makerlab: How to use
  mainstream Web sites, such as Twitter and Google Maps, to locate unwanted
  food and distribute it to hungry people.
• How to Be a Gleaner. Sharon Straus, Sunshine Pantry, and JaneAnne Morton,
  Urban Gleaners: A crash course to gleaning in Portland. Learn what you can do
  in your everyday life to help alleviate hunger.
  
  The Forum also offers:
  

1. The “Toad in the Road” is a visual reminder that we often share the same obstacles, but when we work together we can overcome them.
   
2. Cooperative Tables are places where one person launching an idea needs help from others. Claim a table, define the need, and ask for help. Anyone can sit and offer advice, feedback, ideas—a sort of community focus group—helping move ideas forward in real time in a focused way. Two tables are available, in two sessions.