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Celebrate BOOBAPALOOZA Saturday in Grand Rapids

Jul31

BOOBAPALOOZA: The Big Latch On
(international breastfeeding in unison event)

  • 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  Saturday August 4
  • Congress Elementary School, 940 Baldwin St. SE, Grand Rapids.
  • For breastfeeding moms, their babies and children as well as community and family members who support breastfeeding.

August 1 through 7 every year, The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action organizes World Breastfeeding Week to raise awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding and the need for global support. Celebrated in 120 countries, World Breastfeeding Week  marks the signing of the WHO/UNICEF document Innocenti Declaration, which lists the benefits of breastfeeding along with global and governmental goals.

To mark this occasion, thousands of breastfeeding women, their babies and children across the world will gather in their own communities to take part in the Big Latch On, a synchronized breastfeeding event in multiple locations.

To celebrate the Big Latch On and normalize breasts and breastfeeding, Free 2 Feed GR is hosting BOOBAPALOOZA as Grand Rapids’ Big Latch On event 10 a.m. to noon Saturday August 4 at Congress Elementary School, 940 Baldwin St. SE,
Grand Rapids.

The first Big Latch On took place in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2005. It was introduced to the US in Portland, Oregon in 2010. In 2011, 5687 women participated in the Global Big Latch On, including 57 moms and babies right here in Grand Rapids. This year organizers of the event are aiming to help break the world record. The Big Latch On is informed by the principles of community development, providing the opportunity for breastfeeding women to get together in their local communities, host their own events, and identify opportunities for on-going support.
Free 2 Feed GR’s big goal is to establish a local resource guide to mothers to find establishments in Grand Rapids who support nursing mothers by simply allowing them to nurse wherever they are otherwise allowed to be. This will be the first resource guide of its kind, meaning Grand Rapids could be the first ‘official’ Free 2 Feed city in the country. Free 2 Feed GR’s goal is to promote breastfeeding as a normal, healthy and respected choice within the Grand Rapids community and beyond.

Did you know?

  • Breastfeeding contributes to the normal growth and development of babies and children.
  • Children who are not breastfed are at increased risk of infant morbidity and mortality, adult
    obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and premenopausal breast cancer and
    ovarian cancer (both mom and baby.)
  • The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding exclusively for the first six months of a baby’s life to optimize these benefits, continuing to breastfeed for 2 years and as long thereafter as is mutually desired by a woman and her child.

For information, visit www.Free2FeedGR.org or www.biglatchon.org

August means abundant produce and market activities

Jul30

Ms. Penda Childrey’s spectacular backyard food garden was one of many on the 2011Eastown Food Garden Tour.

August is looking to be an eventful month for the Southeast Area Framers Market. Join OKT for these market-based activities.

Want to find a way to stretch your food budget even further? Join us for free “Urban Foraging” workshops, Friday
August 10, from 4-6 p.m. at the Gerald R Ford Middle School market location and Saturday August 11 from 12-2 p.m. at the Garfield Park market location.

Learn and share how to identify, prepare and eat native food sources growing all around you.

On Tuesday August 14 from 6-8 p.m., join us for a “Plant, Cook & Eat” at the Logan Community Garden, 1416 Logan SE. This free community dialogue about urban gardening, healthy foods and food justice includes a healthy food demo with sampling .

On Tuesday August 21 from 6-8 p.m., join OKT for the free Eastown Food Garden Walking Tour. This informative and fun tour of Eastown residents’ amazing food gardens features cooking demos along the way. Wear comfortable shoes and bring a water bottle. The tour will start at the Eastown Community Association, 415 Ethel Ave. SE.

On Saturday August 25 from 2-4 p. m., learn how to can  and oven-roast tomatoes at Sherman Street Church kitchen, 1000 ShermanAve. SE.

“Preserve the Harvest” with OKT

Jun27

Do you wish you had access to the produce sold at the farmers’ market all year long? Beginning Saturday, OKT will host monthly “Preserving the Harvest” skill-sharing sessions in conjunction with the Saturday Southeast Area Farmers’ Market.

  • 2-4 p.m. Saturday June 30 Strawberry Jam and Drying Fresh Herbs, Sherman St. Church kitchen, 1000 Sherman St. SE
  • 2-4 p.m. Saturday July 28 Pickles and Freezing Fresh Herbs, Madison Square CRC, 1441 Madison SE
  • 2-4 p.m. Saturday August 25 Canning Tomatoes and Oven Roasting Tomatoes with Herbs for the Freezer, Madison Square CRC, 1441 Madison SE
  • 2-4 p.m. Saturday September 29 Canning Applesauce and Herbal Teas, Madison Square CRC, 1441 Madison SE

The Saturday skill-shares will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. so you can shop at the Southeast Area Farmers’ Market and the stop by to learn how to preserve the produce you just purchased. OKT especially hopes that learning how to preserve produce will add even more value for folks making purchases with Double Up Food Bucks. Also, if you learn how to preserve fresh produce, you don’t have to worry about it spoiling before you have a chance to eat it.

Trellis gardening workshop at Gerald R Ford School

May18

Last Wednesday, May 9, OKT hosted a group of urban gardeners at Gerald R Ford School to learn how to build simple garden trellises. Farmer Jennifer Bongiorno showed us how using trellises not only supports plants as they grow but also can imcrease yields in small spaces and containers.

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OKT attending Health Equity Forum

May11
This is a repost by Jeff Smith from

Health Equity Forum

  • Thursday, May 17
  • 9:00AM – Noon
  • Kent ISD Conference Center
  • 1633 E. Beltline Ave. NE, Grand Rapids

The forum is free and open to the public. Please register by calling 632-7100.

Next Thursday, the Kent County Health Department, Strong Beginnings and Healthy Kent 2020 will host a Health Equity forum.

The Thursday morning event will feature speakers from Ingham County’s Health Equity and Social Justice Department, Kent County data, a new video exploring issues like class, race and other health determinants.

The forum will also include a block of time for small group discussion focused on how to address these larger structural injustices to overcome health inequity throughout the county.

The forum is free and open to the public. Please register by calling 632-7100.


GRIID partnering with Our Kitchen Table to offer Food Justice Class

May2

Starting  May 8, GRIID will be offering a 5-week class on the topic of Food Justice. This class is in conjunction with the current Food Justice project that the group Our Kitchen Table (OKT) is involved in.

The 5-week class will explore how we came to have a food system, which is based on an agri-business model that sees food primarily as a commodity and not as a source of healthy nutrition.

We will explore the US food system over the past 100 years and look at issues like food deserts, food justice and food sovereignty. The class will collectively read the book Food Justice, by Robert Gottlieb and Anupama Joshi.

In addition, the class participants will use the analysis from the readings to discuss ways to create a more just food system in West Michigan.

The 5-week class will be held on Tuesdays from 6 – 8PM in the lower level of the Steepletown building located at 671 Davis, NW, in Grand Rapids. The class will begin on Tuesday, May 8.

Anyone interested in signing up for the class can contact me atjsmith@griid.org. There is no cost to this class, but you need to bring your own copy of the book, Food Justice, by Robert Gottlieb and Anupama Joshi.

Third Annual May Day Celebration takes places this Saturday in Grand Rapids

Apr23

This is reposted from GRIID.org. OKT will be tabling at the celebration.

For the third year in a row, the Grand Rapids branch of the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) will host its May Day celebration at Martin Luther King Park.

The celebration is a commemoration of the historic event known as the Haymarket Affair, which took place in 1886 in Chicago where the state engaged a brutal labor suppression that led to the execution of several labor organizers.

The May Day Celebration is also a way that working people celebrate their power as workers, build mutual aid between each other and resist the capitalist class, which will stop at nothing to expand their profits at workers expense.

This years’ event will include numerous information tables, a Really, Really Free Market, children’s activities, a community potluck and local live music from noon until 9pm. For a listing of the bands, check out the facebook event page. There will also be several people from the community speaking on a variety of justice issues between bands and several poets.

May Day Celebration

Saturday, April 28

Noon – 9pm

Martin Luther King Jr. Park

Corner of Franklin & Fuller in Grand Rapids