For a second consecutive year, Healthy Acadia, Impact Justice, and College of the Atlantic are teaming up to highlight and garner support for local food justice projects with three days of community conversations and engagement events planned for Sept. 7-9.
On Thursday, Sept. 7, the partners will cohost their second annual farm dinner and conversation focused on food justice in Maine’s prisons and jails. The event will be held at College of the Atlantic’s Beech Hill Farm in Mount Desert and will feature renowned guest speakers Maria Girouard and Randall Liberty. The experiences and perspectives of these two outstanding individuals will engage diners in meaningful thought and conversation around topics of food justice as they enjoy a beautiful and delicious meal featuring local foods and support two critically important food access and corrections projects.
A member of the Penobscot Nation, Maria Girouard is the executive director of Wabanaki REACH. She holds a master’s degree in history from the University of Maine and is a historian with particular expertise in the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act. Maria is a longstanding community organizer and activist for environmental and social justice. She is a founder of The Peoples’ Garden community garden at Penobscot Nation and dedicates many volunteer hours to community gardening.
Randall Liberty is the commissioner of the Maine Department of Corrections. He is also a certified UMaine Extension Master Gardener and founder of the prison’s gardening program. Liberty has more than 36 years of leadership experience in the fields of corrections and law enforcement, having served as the Warden of the Maine State Prison since 2015 where he has worked to reduce recidivism through enhanced programming, education, and vocational training.
A limited number of tickets for this event are available for sale.Tickets are priced at $275 per person and must be purchased in advance. Every dollar raised through ticket sales will be divided equally to benefit Healthy Acadia’s Downeast Restorative Harvest project and Impact Justice’s Chefs in Prisons. Interested community members are invited to email [email protected] to learn more, purchase a ticket, or explore options if cost is a barrier.
On Friday, Sept. 8, community members are invited to join, “Visions of Food Justice: Community and Carceral Systems in Maine,” a panel discussion focused on local food systems and food justice projects underway in the region.
The Downeast Restorative Harvest project is breaking ground on a community garden in Washington County to engage jail and prison residents, members of the recovery community, agriculture educators, and other community members in growing food for the jail’s kitchen and for donation to local food assistance programs. Maine State Prison has developed a robust horticultural training program to provide healthy food and meaningful vocational training for residents. Nationally, groups like Impact Justice are working to expand access to nourishing food in prisons and jails as a fundamental human right.
In this panel, Dr. Kourtney Collum will lead a discussion with Regina Grabrovac, Leslie Soble, and Rebekah Mende about their work and expertise on these and other projects to realize food justice and build community food security in Maine and beyond. The discussion will be held at College of the Atlantic, Center for Human Ecology Room 102, 105 Eden Street, Bar Harbor, Maine, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.
Dr. Kourtney Collum is the Partridge Chair in Food and Sustainable Agriculture Systems and Associate Dean of Faculty at College of the Atlantic. Kourtney teaches a range of courses that examine ways of transforming food systems to achieve better health, equity, justice, and sovereignty for the humans and other-than-human beings entangled in those systems. Kourtney serves on the board of the Bar Harbor Food Pantry, is a member of the MDI Food Access Project and the Hancock County Food Security Network, and serves on the advisory council for the Downeast Restorative Harvest Project. Kourtney’s most recent work focuses on addressing the growing rate of hunger among college students across the United States, including at COA.
Regina Grabrovac (she/her) is a previous farmer and lifelong homesteader. For the last twelve years, in her role as Food Programs Manager at Healthy Acadia, Regina has managed various food programs across Washington County that help increase food security and access to healthy foods, including the Downeast Gleaning Initiative, Washington County Food Pantry Network, and several community gardens. Regina is leading the on-the-ground efforts to develop the Downeast Restorative Harvest program, a large community garden based in Machias in partnership with the Washington County Jail and the Maine Department of Corrections.
Rebekah Mende is the vocational trades instructor in sustainability with Maine State Prison. The maximum-security correctional facility is well known for its robust horticultural program, which engages residents in the growing of food for the prison’s dining services and local food pantries. The prison has also partnered with UMaine Cooperative Extension to offer a horticultural training program for prison residents looking to develop skills in the horticulture industry. In addition to providing meaningful job-readiness training for residents, the garden and compost programs have led to significant cost savings for the facility. Rebekah has focused her work on prison food reform for over 10 years with combined experience in both private-sector prison advocacy as well as present-day, security-informed experience.
Leslie Soble (she/her) manages the Food in Prison Project and is the lead author of Impact Justice’s national report, Eating Behind Bars: Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food in Prison. An ethnographer and folklorist, Leslie has spent nearly five years immersed in research on the carceral eating experience and its impacts on individuals, communities, and the environment. In her current role, she oversees Impact Justice’s initiatives at the intersection of food and incarceration.
This event is free and open to the public. Pre-registration requested. To register, visit https://coa.swoogo.com/coffeeconversation/Schedule and scroll to the bottom of the page. For more information, please email [email protected].
On Saturday, Sept. 9 from 4:30 to 7 p.m., all are invited to the land that is now home to the Downeast Restorative Harvest Garden, located at 73 Broadway, Machias, for an unforgettable celebration of community and the flourishing future gardens of the Project. The event will feature live music, headlined by the renowned fiddling sensation, Gus La Casse, and the soul-stirring sounds of Milk and Honey Rebellion. Indulge in delectable delights from two scrumptious food trucks, offering a mouthwatering array of options. Feast on Johnny’s Tacos, bursting with flavor, or savor the irresistible Za’spresso Pizza, sure to leave you craving more.
This event is open to the public and everyone is welcome. Registration is not required. While a suggested donation of $20 at the door is greatly appreciated to support the Downeast Restorative Harvest project, no one will be turned away. To make an online donation in support of this event, go to bit.ly/DERHGardenParty. For more information please email [email protected] or call 207-255-3741.
To learn more about Downeast Restorative Harvest, contact Katie Freedman by email at [email protected] or by calling 207-667-7171. To learn more about Chefs in Prisons, contact Madeleine Cunningham at [email protected]. To make a gift directly in support of these projects, please visit bit.ly/restorative-harvest or impactjustice.org/donate. The organizations are tremendously grateful for all community support.
Healthy Acadia is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that engages in a broad range of initiatives to build healthier communities and make it easier for people to lead healthy lives across Washington and Hancock counties, Maine. Learn more at www.healthyacadia.org.
