Family Event to Advocate for Healthy Food with Fair Farm Bill

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New Yorkers gather to ‘green’ their St. Patrick’s Day in White Plains to help fix the broken food system

Citizens join together to rally and promote better food and farm policy with a fair farm bill

What: On St. Patrick’s Day- Saturday, March 17^th, 2012, New Yorkers will gather at  in the White Plains to rally and take action to support a fair farm bill this year.

Organizers of the event will engage families, the vibrant Westchester County local food movement and residents from across the county to take action both locally and nationally to help fix our broken food system.

Volunteers will gather at the  to write letters, make phone calls and create art projects and then walk to Renaissance Plaza for a rally and press conference.

They will encourage Senator Gillibrand, who sits on the Senate Agricultural Committee to stand with family farmers by supporting a competition title in this year’s Farm Bill.

This year, the farm bill, the largest piece of food and farm legislation that determines how food reaches our plate, is up for reauthorization.

Click  for background information on the bill and the current state of the food system.

This is incredibly timely as it only happens once every 4-5 years. 

This event is family friendly, open to the community and will be a fun, celebratory morning to kick off St. Patrick’s Day!

Who: Local residents will gather in White Plains to take action to encourage Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to support family farmers by advocating for a Fair Farm Bill. 

When and Where:  Saturday, March 17, 2012. Volunteers will assemble in Renaissance Plaza at 1 p.m. for a rally and press conference. You can check out the map here: http://g.co/maps/4fdbh

Schedule (subject to slight adjustments):

11:30 a.m. -  Meet up for action stations and light refreshments at the church house 
12:30 p.m. - March to Renaissance Plaza for rally 
1p.m. - Press conference begins

Visuals: Kids will be dressed as green vegetables, and colorful signs will encourage Senator Gillibrand to stand with family farmers.

Since our day of action falls on St. Patrick's Day, we are asking kids (or the young at heart!) to come dressed as their favorite green veggie.

Come join Food and Water Watch for our day of action for a Fair Farm Bill! What green veggie will you be?

Let us know when you RSVP here! 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEU1cjRBLTVhX3VTVTB6T0QwTHJIaVE6MQ#gid=0

Speakers will include Will Summers, local farmer and fair food advocate, Emma Greenbaum; local field organizer for Food and Water Watch, and Piper Martz, local high school student and president of the Mamaronek High School Real Food Club.

Here is what the local chapter of Food & Water Watch has been up to:

For more information about consolidation and corporate power in our food system check out our fact sheet here: http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/factsheet/taking-on-corporate-power-in-the-food-supply/

Please fell free to call or email with any questions prior to the event or if you'd like to get involved! Emma Greenbaum, 914.269.8352 and emma@greencorps.org

Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable.

So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control. www.foodandwaterwatch.org