Food Moxie: Mt. Airy kids really digging what they eat

Posted 6/22/17

Jill Fink has been Executive Director of Food Moxie since 2013. (Photo by John Barone) By Jill Fink Urban agriculture has increased in popularity in recent years, in no small part due to the …

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Food Moxie: Mt. Airy kids really digging what they eat

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Jill Fink has been Executive Director of Food Moxie since 2013. (Photo by John Barone)

By Jill Fink

Urban agriculture has increased in popularity in recent years, in no small part due to the achievements of Michelle Obama, who made nutrition and access to healthy foods the focus of her efforts during her time as First Lady. This year Food Moxie, a small, but mighty non-profit based in northwest Philadelphia, celebrates 10 years of providing farm, nutrition and culinary education programs to some of Philadelphia’s most under-served and vulnerable residents.

Tucked away on the border of East Mt. Airy and Germantown, there’s a magical plot of land that converges behind Martin Luther King High School (MLK) and Stenton Family Manor (SFM). Separated by a chain link fence, you’ll find Hope Garden (at SFM) and Hope Farm (at MLK). Together, these plots form about an acre of cultivated farm land, producing nearly 6,000 pounds of food in 2016, over 74% of which was donated to the kitchen at SFM or to those who participate in our programs. Not too far away in Roxborough, Food Moxie provides similar programs — with an added focus on leadership development and 21st century skills — to students at W.B. Saul Agricultural High School. Many children take part in both growing the food and eating it.

Food Moxie’s vision is a world where all people have access to the skills and resources to grow, cook and enjoy healthy food. We work toward this goal every day through our work with families experiencing homelessness at SFM, young adults with autism and intellectual disabilities at MLK and the teens at Saul. Our mission is not just to educate but to inspire. We don’t want to feed people information, but through the magical experience of growing food, to help them experience a shift in attitude towards trying new things and helping them build agency in their own lives.

I was recently thinking about the “victory gardens” planted during World War II in communities large and small, rural and urban, across the country. People learned to grow their own food out of necessity — to supply their families and community with fresh produce at a time when food was heavily rationed. But the gardens were also considered morale boosters during uncertain times. Victory gardens enabled Americans to know that they were contributing to the war effort and also boosted the confidence and pride that came with planting a seed and nurturing it to fruition.

From seed to supper, the impact of Food Moxie’s farm, nutrition, and culinary education programs have a similar effect. Our goal is a simple one: to inspire and educate people to grow, prepare and eat healthy food. We measure this impact with quantitative data and hard numbers, but what’s more difficult to measure — and equally as important to our long-term success — is the impact on participants’ morale and self-esteem.

Like the victory gardeners, those who participate in our programs are also navigating uncertain times — from homelessness and deep poverty to learning basic life skills like how to cook (with limited resources) as they enter adulthood and live independently. They already live on the margins with an ever-thinning safety net for support. We know for certain that they will be deeply affected by federal cuts to vital programs and services, making our programs that much more important.

Growing food is not a complex thing, but it connects us to a simple joy. The gardens started during World War II, and brought back into popularity by Michelle Obama, are part of a long tradition of honoring the land, nurturing ourselves and each other through nurturing a seed to fruition. While eating vegetable curry, one mother shared with her Hope Kitchen classmates at SFM, “This is how you get back to being appreciative of the earth.”

Food Moxie, established in 2007, is the affiliated nonprofit of Weavers Way Co-op. To learn more, visit www.foodmoxie.org and follow us on @foodmoxie. Jill Fink has been an entrepreneur and owner of Mugshots Coffeehouse in the Art Museum area since 2004 and Executive Director of Food Moxie since 2013. You can connect with her through LinkedIn or jill@foodmoxie.org. The same food can also be purchased at the Weavers Way Farmstand on Tuesdays from 3-6 p.m. behind the Chestnut Hill Weavers Way Co-op.

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