Join us on Tuesday, September 30th, for a screening of the film Ramen Day
1 in 3 Vermonters experienced food insecurity during the COVID pandemic. In the years since the pandemic, hunger has remained high: in the last 5 months of 2023, the Vermont Foodbank distributed as much food as they did at the height of the COVID pandemic. Those facing food insecurity are not strangers—they are our neighbors, local students, elders, homebound residents, and people working full-time jobs.
During COVID, new and innovative programs helped meet the rising need, like Everyone Eats. The Vermont Everyone Eats program was a statewide coronavirus relief program that paid Vermont restaurants $10/meal to prepare free, nutritious meals to Vermonters impacted by the pandemic. The program distributed over 3.5 million free meals over 2.5 years. What can we learn from the success of this program? What gaps did COVID reveal in our food system?
We invite you to join us on Tuesday, September 30th, 6-8 PM for Sustainable Woodstock’s Annual Gathering. This year’s celebration will be held at Billings Farm and Museum, and will include a film screening and Q&A of the short film “Ramen Day,” which is about the Everyone Eats Program. The film showcases the program’s profound impact on combating food insecurity and revitalizing local food systems. We’ll close out the evening with a panel Q&A with filmmaker Corey Hendrickson, Karen White of the Woodstock Food Shelf, and Gabe Zoerheide from Willing Hands to discuss the growing issue of food insecurity in our community and how we can each help make a difference.
This event is a time to gather and thank you–our community–for your support this past year. We will begin the evening with small bites and time for socializing, followed by a brief overview of Sustainable Woodstock’s year.
We hope you will join us to celebrate the year and discuss the gaps in current efforts to address food insecurity in Vermont. Food insecurity has always existed in Vermont–it just took a pandemic for some of us to become aware of it. What can we do with that knowledge?