In March we held a meeting and club registration discussing our DMACC Urban Plant Pod. This conversation discussed the benefits of eating whole-food/plant based, not only for your body but also the environment. We ended the meeting with a meal kit giveaway which fed 60 students/staff/faculty. We offered a five-bean soup kit and a can coconut curry lentil soup kit option.
In April we held a booth at the Earth Fest Fair with information about the DMACC Urban Plant Pod and gave out black bean dip topped with chives from our food forest and served with locally made tortilla chips. The booth offered informational handouts on our pod as well as information on plant pods/ WFPB meals and a registration for our emailing list.
In May we offered a series of seedling workshops teaching folks how to grow their own food. We purchased seeds and soil to start seedlings and offered informational handouts and registration for our emailing list.
As of June, we have spent our meetings planning the summer/ fall workshops. We are excited to host a series of summer gardening classes based on harvesting and preparing fresh produce.
Project Plan:
Timeline:
January- kick off meeting, project & event planning.
March- First meal give away. Providing a WFPB meal, created by a local chef, and distributed in ecofriendly packaging. These meals will also provide information on WFPB diets and how to join our pod.
April- Host our second quarterly meeting with our expanded membership, possibly combining an event with Earth Week.
May- Event on growing your own food and offer free plants and planters.
June – August we will host events on gardening (as well as our third quarterly meeting)
September- October we will host bi-weekly cooking demonstrations and offer free meals on how to create WFPB meals with produce from your garden/market.
November- We will wrap the year up with a community meal (last year we were able to feed nearly 60 people with our “harvest chili”)
Budget:
Cooking equipment- $200
For meal sharing and demonstrations.
Additional ingredients needed to prepare meals- $700
Such as whole grains, legumes/beans, nuts and seeds and produce during nongrowing season.
Ecofriendly Packaging- $100
This will allow us to package meals in a justifiable manner. We currently have some ecofriendly packaging but in order to share the maximum number of meals we may need more.
Impact:
Our community college benefits from this project by receiving educational information, as well as free meals, and hands on events to grow & cook your own food.
Our measurable goals include doubling our Pod membership and sharing over 200 plant-based meals this year. We also hope to spread knowledge or increase interest in growing and preparing your own food.
Location:
We will have our meetings and events on campus at DMACC Urban as well as sharing meals with DMACC Ankeny Community Fridge.
