From WKCD Project Profile: The Food Project |
Profiles of Food Project Participants The best way to understand our community is to meet a few of the thousands of people who are part of The Food Project.
| Tashana joined our program at age 14, and in the last seven years she has served in nearly every role available to her at The Food Project. She is now at the Cornell School of Agriculture and Life Sciences and, when she graduates, she wants to work for the United States Department of Agriculture in community nutrition. | Devon is a compactly built, quiet young man. He came to us from a juvenile detention center. He did well in the program but went back home into difficult circumstances. Two years later, he was shot in a gang-related incident and was paralyzed from the waist down. He lives in a basement apartment with an elderly woman who took him in. |
| Eric graduated from an ivy-league college and has been accepted to a medical school. He turned down elite schools to gain entry to a program that trains people in community medicine. During the two years before he begins medical school, he is helping urban teens gain access to a college education. He has served in nearly every role available to him at The Food Project. | Herv is the father of a Food Project participant. He came to the United States from Montserrat and runs a small construction outfit. He is a physically powerful man and he frequently comes by the urban food sites to help us pull stumps and think through construction projects. |
| Susan is a suburban mother of two sons who have participated in The Food Project. She buys all of her produce from our farm. AS a town official she promotes our use of conservation land as a model of how her town can support sustainable agriculture. | Jose’s house borders the food lot in Roxbury. He watches out for vandals, helps get city services when we need them, and gives inspirational talks to our young people about the positive impact of their work in the neighborhood. |
| Salicia grew up in Jamaica and moved to the United States 60 years ago. She has a small and beautiful garden near our urban sites. She grows Callalu, an edible green from Jamaica, and tomatoes and sells them at our farmers’ market. Young participants in The Food Project periodically visit and help her to turn her soil. | Domingo grew up in Boston and was a crew leader in our program for two summers. He left the city to attend college where he majored in economics. He then returned to The Food Project to be a full-time staff member. |
—From Growing Together by Greg Gale (2000)