TRAVERSE CITY — The Northwest Food Coalition, an alliance of more than 70 food pantries, meal sites and baby pantries in northern lower Michigan, is offering a Food Security Summit, a free, six-part virtual information and engagement series.
The online event strives to create additional public awareness through sharing data and stories of care, resiliency and change, according to a release, and to highlight a whole-community issue that is rapidly increasing in severity with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Organizers invite people to attend if they are: experiencing food insecurity, supporting a family member or neighbor experiencing food insecurity, working at a food pantry or at an agency providing food assistance, a community member who wants to learn and support people experiencing food insecurity, working at an organization that supports people or a community that is experiencing food insecurity, or simply is curious about learning more about food and the future of your community.
Attendees may register for any or all sessions, which will be hosted on Zoom. Each session will run from 10 to 11:30 a.m. A link to participate in the session will be emailed to registrants prior to the event.
Learn more and register at https://northwestmifoodcoalition.org/food-security-summit.
- Dec. 8, 2020. Session 1 — Who in our community is facing food insecurity? This first session seeks to refresh the lens at which we look at food insecurity and hunger. Join us to hear panelists and neighbors share their experiences of food security.
- Jan. 12, 2021. Session 2 – What are the sources of food assistance? The second session takes a look at both public and private food assistance programs through the lens of those operating the programs. Learn about the challenges these programs have encountered during the pandemic and local responses
- Jan. 26, 2021. Session 3 – How do we make decisions to address community and individual needs?
- Feb. 9, 2021. Session 4 – How do people in need get access to healthy food?
- Feb. 23, 2021. Session 5 – What values drive our solutions?
- March 9, 2021. Session 6 – What’s next? Chartering a path forward for food security for our community?
The series is funded by a grant from Rotary Charities.
Event partners include the Northwest Michigan Food Coalition, MSU Extension, Food Rescue of Northwest Michigan and Groundwork for Resilient Communities.
