New Food Council chosen

Some of the new elected board representatives of the Food Council, back row, lef to right: Joe Gillespie, Joey Borges, Paul Madeira, Martha Scott and Ron Phillips. Front, left to right: Jessica Mercado, Cris McCollum and Angela Glore. Del Norte Triplicate/Michele Thomas

The Food Council was envisioned as part of the Building Healthy Communities initiative of The California Endowment. The need for healthier food options throughout DN&ATL was identified as a high priority during the planning phase and in the logic model presented to The California Endowment. The Food Council represents a big step forward toward a healthier food system. The mission of the Council is to build a vibrant, sustainable local food system.

The 14 elected members are Angela Glore, Cris McCollum, Deborah Kravitz, Jacob Chilcott, Jessica Mercado, Joe Gillespie, Joey Borges, Martha Scott, Ocean Air Farms, Philip Mancus, Reweti Wiki, Ron Cole, Ron Phillips and Skip Lowry. Together, the new representatives of the Food Council cover our region from Smith River to Tulley Creek in the upper Yurok Reservation and almost everywhere in between. The Council includes food producers, retailers, educators, advocates and consumers.

Oct. 24 was chosen for the Food Council election because it was the first national Food Day, organized by the Center for Science in the Public Interest and others, and modeled after Earth Day. There were hundreds of events across the country. In celebration of Food Day, the election and Food Council meeting were followed by a mixer for our new Food Council and a series of short films for national Food Day. The food highlighted many of our local products and the films covered most of the food system sectors from production to consumption into the waste stream.

Food Council meetings will remain open to interested residents and will include time for public comments. Those interested in attending the next meeting or learning more about the Food Council can contact Angela Glore or Michael Waddle at CAN at 464-9190.