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FRESH ROOTS AT RISK OF CANCELLING FUNDRAISER: ‘SCHOOLYARD HARVEST LONGTABLE DINNER’, HAPPENING JULY 6TH

FRESH ROOTS AT RISK OF CANCELLING FUNDRAISER:
‘SCHOOLYARD HARVEST LONGTABLE DINNER’, HAPPENING JULY 6TH

Purchase your tickets now for the ‘Schoolyard Harvest Longtable Dinner’ benefitting
Fresh Roots Urban Farm Society’s youth programs 

 

Vancouver B.C., June 21, 2023—After a 3-year hiatus, Fresh Roots Urban Farm Society is excited to be bringing back their most anticipated and critical fundraiser of the year: Schoolyard Harvest Longtable Dinner on Thursday, July 6, from 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm. However, this previously quick-to-sell-out summertime event is already at risk of being cancelled due to slow ticket sales. Fresh Roots relies heavily on this event to fund Fresh Roots’ youth programs which empower young people to connect with both their community and the food on their plate. Celebrating nature’s bounty on the verdant farm grounds of David Thompson Secondary School, Schoolyard Harvest Longtable Dinner is an elegant, chef-prepared multi-course, seated dinner made with locally sourced ingredients from the charity’s schoolyard farms and community partners, and paired with an open bar of wine, beer, and other beverages. Tickets are $250 for adults, and include food, drink, live music and farm tours!

 

“This year’s event is a special celebration of the 10th anniversary of Fresh Roots’ first schoolyard farm,” explains Alexa Pitoulis, Fresh Roots Executive Director. “It will be an unforgettable culinary evening on the oasis of our urban farm—all in support of farm-based learning and leadership for kids and youth across Metro Vancouver.”

 

The evening will begin with cocktail hour at 5:30pm. Guests will choose between craft alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages accompanied by a grazing table composed of locally produced ingredients and the best of the season’s local harvest. During cocktail hour, guests are encouraged to mingle and wander through the lush schoolyard farm to experience the work of Fresh Roots firsthand at the peak of golden hour. Knowledgeable staff and former youth participants will be eager to offer farm tours and tell guests about their personal experiences with Fresh Roots.

 

At 6:30pm diners will take their seats to indulge in a locally-focused multi-course meal prepared by Governor General’s Award-winning Chef Robert Clark, and Chef Julian Bond (Organic Ocean Seafood), Chef TJ Conwi (Ono Vancouver), acclaimed Pastry Chef Fumiko Moreton (Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre), and Chef Derrick Sibayan (Holts Café), plus beverages from Ward’s Cider, Persephone Brewing Company, and Edna’s Non-Alcoholic Cocktail Company.

 

All funds raised at the Schoolyard Farm Longtable Dinner benefit Fresh Roots’ youth programs. Over the past decade, Fresh Roots has embarked on an inspiring and transformative journey, empowering young people to become food citizens and land stewards. Participants learn how to grow and sell food through planting, harvesting, and working at farmer’s markets. They develop valuable farming and entrepreneurial experience while also nurturing their self-confidence and ability to work effectively as a team.

 

Partners of Fresh Roots 2023 Schoolyard Harvest Longtable Dinner include: Organic Ocean, Windsor Meats, Persephone Brewing Company, 33 Acres Brewing Co., Edna’s Non-Alcoholic Cocktail Company, Wards Cider, Wize Iced Tea, Ono Vancouver, KPU Richmond Farm, UBC Farm, Cropthorne Farm, Terra Breads, Earnest Ice Cream, TMRW Foods, Spread ‘Em Kitchen Co., Legends Haul, KMComms, plus additional generous partners to be announced in the days to come.

 

Schoolyard Harvest Longtable Dinner tickets are on sale now via Eventbrite.

 

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Fresh Roots Urban Farm Society

GROWING FOOD GROWING COMMUNITY! Fresh Roots Urban Farm Society envisions a world where everyone has access to healthy food, land, and community. This non-profit organization works to cultivate engaging gardens and programs that catalyze healthy eating, ecological stewardship, and community celebration. Fresh Roots helps schools and school districts across Metro Vancouver grow community through growing food. Working with a variety of partners and clients, it utilizes school gardens to provide opportunities for inquiry-based and cross-curricular learning, volunteering, leadership development, and job skills training that animate school communities across the Lower Mainland.

 

Website:  freshroots.ca

Facebook: @freshrootsfarms

Instagram: @freshrootsfarms

Twitter: @freshrootsfarms

 

Program & Media Contacts:

Alexa Pitoulis

Executive Director, Fresh Roots

alexa@freshroots.ca | 778-883-2599 

Katharine Manson,
Media Relations, KMComms

katharine@kmcomms.com | 604 318 9690

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Vancouver Magazine September/October 2022

Link to full magazine online: https://issuu.com/canadawidemedia/docs/vanmag-septoct2022_lr?fbclid=IwAR0DZmVjyDtnumPN-m9zsH7Z7y6eXAKQumbibPVMuB5CrYZt_N8w2DFBCsk

Vancouver Magazine September/October 2022

Published on 

Engaging articles, reviews and stories all about Vancouver. Vancouver Magazine informs, guides and entertains people who engage with the city. Mixing quality journalism and service-driven pieces, it chronicles and reflects Vancouver’s emergence as a dynamic international city.

Page 24:

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A SOYL Summer – Part 3

A SOYL Summer- Part 3

As the 2020 SOYL (Sustainable Opportunities for Youth Leadership) program heads into the fifth week of learning and growing together in Delta, Vancouver and Coquitlam we are sharing the third installment in the three-part series written by four SOYL alumni from the summer of 2019. Introducing the third installment of this three-part series:

Written by Stephanie, Maria, Railene, and Sarina, 2019 SOYL Participants

Chapter 4 – Straight Talk

Straight Talk is something a lot of us found extremely important to our SOYL experiences. Straight Talk occurs once a week and it’s where our facilitators give us constructive feedback on how our performance in the program was that week. During Straight Talk, we get two positive things our facilitators saw us doing that week, and we get one thing that we may want to focus a little harder on.  Straight Talk is so important because it gives us another person’s point of view on our growth and participation so it helps us recognize our strengths and help us grow in areas we need to or struggle with. 

 

Chapter 5 –  Farmer’s Market

As we continue learning more about the farm, we also learned how to harvest and process the vegetables. First, we ask one of the farm team staff how to pull out the vegetables properly because you want to make sure if you’re doing it right. Second, we want to make sure that all the vegetables were properly washed because you don’t want any dirt on them. How do we wash our vegetables? Well, the farm team set up a harvest station to wash the vegetables and totes. After all the vegetables are nice and clean we put them in a tote for the farmer’s market. During the market, we learned how to sell our produce that we have locally grown in our schoolyard farms. We also gain customer service skills and share with the customers what is Fresh Roots about or even about the SOYL program. One of the things we sold in the market was our salsa! We spent a whole day in  SOYL making the salsa. In the kitchen one of our facilitators showed us how to cut the vegetables into smaller pieces, after that she showed us how to measure the salsa and how to can them properly.

 

Chapter 6: Leadership

Leadership is written in SOYL’s title. SOYL stands for Sustainable Opportunities for Youth Leadership. During this six-week summer program we crawl out of our shells, have new experiences, and become more confident. Every week a pair of SOYL crew members plan and lead a warm-up game for the morning. The warm-up games taught us how to speak in front of people. It helped us practice speaking clearly in front of lots of people. The fun warm-up games always wake all of us up. Giving and receiving feedback was important and that’s what FLIF is for. FLIF stands for “How do you Feel? What did you Like? What could you Improve? And would you like to receive Feedback?”We love sitting in a circle and appreciating our peers for their amazing work with positive and constructive feedback. Another part of leadership was learning the importance of active listening. In that workshop, we sat in front of our partners listening to them with active expressions. We practiced engaging with people’s conversations with patience, avoiding interrupting topics. SOYL has taught all of us how to be leaders!

Proceeds from the Fresh Roots Fourth Annual Schoolyard Dinner *At Home Edition* fundraiser On Sale Now provide critical funding for Fresh Roots programs, like SOYL, that engage and empower youth more important now than ever!