A few "friends" at the park today-

Keep voting for an Orchard in Lawrence!

Turn this into an orchard

With your help, we've remained in 4th place so now please keep voting every day to bring a fruit orchard to Lawrence! Just 8 more days in May and Communities Takes Root will give an orchard to the top 5 entries-right now that means us. We need you to keep voting to keep us there and get that fruit to town!

Visit Communities Take Root today and vote (you'll have to use the map or index to find our entry-we're the only one in Massachusetts), and click it every day from now through the month of May! Please be patient with their security measures-we appreciate it!

Communities Take Root is giving away 5 orchards each month from May 1 to September 1, we didn't win the first round, but have a good chance of getting the orchard this round in May-we're in 4th!

Post to your Facebook and Twitter pages if you use them!

Thanks to Marc Lemay for the photo

The staff of Groundwork Lawrence would like to congratulate our Executive Director, Heather McMann who was one of almost 30 women honored today for making "exemplary contributions to business and community" in the greater Lawrence area. We know how great she is, so it was fun to see her among such fantastic and inspiring women of the greater Lawrence area. Former Executive Director Maggie Super-Church was also honored.

The awards luncheon also serves as an important fundraiser for the greater Lawrence
YWCA with proceeds going to support the over 21 programs offered in their Women’s and Youth Service divisions and this year highlighted the young girls in the Science Technology Engineering and Math program.

Thank you to the YWCA for all you do for the greater Lawrence area and congrats to Heather!

Groundwork Lawrence had the opportunity to host a community screening of FRESH last night, an inspiring documentary highlighting some of the individuals who are striving for positive and sustainable change in our nation's current food system. Following the film, we got to hear from a couple of our own local heroes, who are working to better the environment and the health of our community. Farmer Dave Dumaresq and Bethany Bellingham, both of Farmer Dave’s of Dracut, spoke about their enthusiasm for farming, the importance of the community-supported agriculture model (GWL partners with Farmer Dave’s to offer this in Lawrence!), and their commitment to getting much of their produce into the hands of the needy and hungry. Dr. Jeff Geller and Dr. Evan Teplow from the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center also spoke about their work with residents of Greater Lawrence who are struggling with diet-related diseases. Both run pediatric or family obesity support groups and strive to give their patients hands-on experiences with fresh, local food and encourage healthy food choices. Thanks to these presenters, our fabulous film, and all those who attended, we had a thought-provoking discussion which we hope will continue in future events.

We are also pleased to announce that attendees donated $375 to our Share-a-Share Program, which raises funds to subsidize the cost of CSA shares for those with financial hardship, brining us to a total of $3,030 raised to-date. Thank you to all who donated! Your support helps us keep this fabulous program running! Thank you also to Butcher Boy Marketplace and Whole Foods for donating some delicious food for last night’s event, and to the Sidell and Yepez families for donating the use of their great space!

If you were unable to attend the event and wanted to, you can still donate to Share-a-Share by visiting our donate page. If you would like to see the film, please visit the FRESH website, to find out where the next community screening close to you will be, and please let us know if this is the type of event that you would like to attend in the future!

Come join us for movie night! Screening of Fresh!

For anyone who is interested, Groundwork Lawrence will be hosting a community screening of Fresh, a film that celebrates folks all around the country who are working to better our nation's food system. This screening will be a fundraiser for our Share-a-Share program, with $10 suggested donation. Food and discussion and a great film...what could be better?

Wednesday, May 12th at Chester's (60 Island Street, Lawrence) from 6-8 pm. Thank you to Butcher Boy and the Sidell and Yepez Families for sponsoring this event.

We were pleased for the invitation to visit Mayor Manzi of Methuen and talk about Groundwork Lawrence. Here you can watch part 1 of 4 of Rose's visit on the show April 18, 2010.

Check out parts 2-4 on Mayor Manzi's YouTube channel.

Keep voting for an Orchard in Lawrence!

Turn this into an orchard

With your help, we're in 4th place and now we need you (and your networks) to please keep voting every day to bring a fruit orchard to Lawrence!

Communities Take Root has given 5 orchards to the top 5 in the first round, so now we're up to 4th place! Congratulations to those winners! To to keep us in the top five by June1 vote daily and we will be selected to receive a fruit orchard!

Visit Communities Take Root today and vote (you'll have to use the map or index to find our entry-we're the only one in Massachusetts), and click it every day from now through the month of May! Please be patient with their security measures-we appreciate it!

Communities Take Root is giving away 5 orchards each month from May 1 to September 1, we didn't win the first round, but have a good chance of getting the orchard this round in May-we're in 4th!

Post to your Facebook and Twitter pages if you use them!

The MIT@Lawrence Team for 2010 would like to cordially invite you to the final public meeting of the MIT student led study into the alleys and canals in Lawrence, MA. Mayor William Lantigua has agreed to join us and we hope you can join us as well.

The presentation will be held Tuesday May 4 at the Main branch of the Lawrence Public Library in the "Auditorium" located at 51 Lawrence St.
Sign in and conversations will start at 5:30 and the presentations will begin at 6pm.

Earlier this month the Eagle Tribune ran a story written by reporter J.J. Huggins entitled "Community Supported Agriculture allows people to buy directly from farms," which mentioned Groundwork Lawrence's CSA and Farmer Dave's among other area CSAs (click here for the full story).

In response to that article, we wrote a letter to the editor, explaining some of the efforts Groundwork Lawrence is making to fight hunger and diet-related disease and to make the CSA affordable to everyone. We were thrilled to see this letter published in today's paper! Read the full story below.

For anyone who is interested, Groundwork Lawrence will be hosting a community screening of Fresh, a film that celebrates folks all around the country who are working to better our nation's food system. This screening will be a fundraiser for our Share-a-Share program, with $10 suggested donation. Food and discussion and a great film...what could be better? Wednesday, May 12th at Chester's (60 Island Street, Lawrence) from 6-8 pm.

Letter: Community agriculture fights hunger, disease

To the editor:

Thank you for the recent article titled "Uprooting the middleman: Community supported agriculture lets people buy directly."As manager of Groundwork Lawrence's CSA (one of the CSA programs mentioned in the article), which is run in partnership with Farmer Dave's of Dracut, I often hear people praise the CSA model, while simultaneously and understandably bemoaning the significant up-front financial investment on the part of the customer. In hopes of combating this, Groundwork Lawrence (GWL) has come up with several ways to ensure that the high-quality, farm-fresh produce offered in the CSA program is accessible to as many members of our community as possible.

In 2008, GWL established a fund to subsidize the cost of CSA shares to individuals and families experiencing financial hardship. Through this Share-a-Share program, individuals, churches, corporations, and foundations can make a tax-deductible donation to help us extend the benefits of the CSA to those who would otherwise not be able to afford it.

Last year, thanks to the generosity of 2009 CSA members and the greater GWL community, we were able to raise $3,000 for the Share-a-Share program; this funding was used to buy food for several Lawrence families and countless individuals through the Neighbors In Need (NIN) food pantries, who dispersed over 5,700 pounds of donated fresh produce to those in need. GWL's partnership with NIN meant that the individuals and families who rely on food pantries to meet their daily food needs received fresh produce in their pantry bags in addition to the canned and boxed goods they typically receive.

In addition to the Share-a-Share program, GWL's CSA also accepts SNAP (formerly known as Food Stamps) for payment of CSA shares. GWL works with SNAP beneficiaries to set up an affordable payment plan often combined with a subsidy made possible by the Share-a-Share Program.

Lastly, even for those who do not receive SNAP, GWL offers payment plan options, striving to make the CSA a possibility for all members of our community, despite income level.

Fresh, healthy produce is one of the simplest and most effective defenses against the diet-related diseases so prevalent amongst low-income families in Lawrence. Studies show that rates of Type II diabetes in Lawrence are 76 percent higher than those observed more widely across the state, while coronary heart disease and obesity also plague this population.

Moreover, fresh, healthy produce is a nutritious way to combat the staggering rates of hunger in Lawrence. Compared with more affluent residents, low-income Lawrencians face a persistent need for food, or assistance to meet their daily food needs; while one in seven Lawrence families is a SNAP/Food Stamp recipient, several hundreds more qualify for but don't receive them; in sixteen low-income areas of Lawrence, one child in three lives in a family unable to meet its basic need for food, and the prevalence of hunger can be nearly six times greater than the statewide average; and 82 percent of Lawrence children enrolled in school are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals.

Anyone interested in becoming a member of Groundwork Lawrence's CSA or interested in helping us provide healthy, fresh food to Lawrence's low-income families, can learn more and make a donation to the Share-a-Share program by visiting www.groundworklawrence.org/csa, or calling 978-974-0770.

Janel Wright

Groundwork Lawrence

Lawrence

http://www.eagletribune.com/opinion/x1901489151/Letter-Community-agricul...

What a day! 400 volunteers all over the City of Lawrence picked up trash, raked leaves, built garden beds, planted flowers, planted trees and celebrated the Earth and Lawrence. We'd like to thank Comcast for all of their volunteer and logistics support and for making Lawrence a part of Comcast Cares Day- a national day of service by the Comcast Cable Company.

*THANK YOU to all our supporters and sponsors: City of Lawrence, City of Lawrence DPW and Recycling, Comcast, Allied Waste, Covanta Energy, Lawrence General Hospital, Sal's Pizza, Jackson Lumber, and Whole Foods!!

A big thanks and "Job Well Done" goes to volunteers from Comcast, Lawrence Senior Center, Community Day Charter School, The City of Lawrence DPW, The City of Lawrence, Lawrence High School, Lawrence General Hospital, Kohls, and Northern Essex Community College.

If you would like to still volunteer, maybe the park near your house or business needs some attention, please call Kathryn at Groundwork Lawrence. We have supplies of trash bags and gloves for folks to use and if necessary some rakes or shovels to borrow. Maybe you have a crew of individuals who would like to do weekly cleanups like our friends at the Plus Company, but you're not sure where to start. Please give us a call!

Pictures from the day below and on Flickr.