During a special event held at a local cafe, local residents had a chance to sample free tapas dishes such as lamb kabobs, vegetarian ratatouille and spinach- pepper- and parmesan-stuffed mushrooms.All of those dishes were made with ingredients grown and raised at some of the area’s local farms.On Friday evening, at One ACRE Cafe at 603 W. Walnut St., members of the public were granted a chance to sample some of that local fare — as prepared by the cafe’s executive chef Matt Clark — during the “Love Local” event.The event was hosted by both the cafe and its new partner, Appalachian Sustainable Development — a nonprofit agency aimed at facilitating access to locally grown, healthy foods in Appalachian Virginia and Tennessee. While the volunteer staff of One ACRE Cafe wants to provide everyone who walks in their doors with the opportunity to have a meal — by accepting money or employment as payment — the people at ASD hope to connect hungry people with people hungry to sell their homegrown goods.While the event announced the two entities’ partnership, according to ASD executive director Kathlyn Terry, it also provided the community with a chance to learn more about what the two organizations did and how they could benefit the community.“The reason ASD is partnering with One ACRE Cafe is because ... we both want to feed the hungry,” Terry said during the event. “But we also have a desire to connect farmers with the hungry and connect farmers with restaurants.”One way ASD is attempting to make those connections is through a program called Rooted in Appalachia, which provides restaurants and chefs with the ability to order from an online list of goods available at several local farms. Once the restaurant orders the local fare, ASD then provides the delivery service from the farm to the restaurant, thereby reducing both entities’ costs in the transaction.“Rooted in Appalachia hopefully will be coming soon to Johnson City and Jonesborough, and it’s an example of something we do to connect farmers and restaurants that like to serve local food,” Terry said.In addition to easing restaurants’ access to local foods, however, Terry said her organization is also attempting to ease private citizens’ abilities to prepare and cook their own food.“It’s great to feed people; it’s great to give them free food,” Terry said. “But we need to do more. We’ve all kind of lost the art of cooking, and definitely lost the art of growing.”On the topic of teaching others how to grow and prepare their own food, Terry cited work her organization had done with families at food pantries in Abingdon, Va., wherein families who were eating at local food pantries learned to produce their own food.“Probably my favorite thing we’ve done over the last couple of years is we’ve taken people who, two years ago, were growing food at the food pantry, taught them how to grow and now they’re selling them at the farmer’s market,” Terry said. “It’s possible. We’re very excited to be doing that.”While Terry expressed pride in some of the work her organization has done, she also impressed that assistance was needed for both ASD and One ACRE Cafe to continue their work.“The reason that we’re doing a Love Local event is because we want you all to meet ASD and get involved, get engaged (and) volunteer,” Terry said. “One ACRE Cafe and ASD both need volunteers, (and) they need donations.”One ACRE Cafe executive director Jan Orchard echoed Terry’s sentiments that assistance from the community was needed to perpetuate their work.“We’ve always talked about the fact that it’s all about community,” Orchard said. “We’re going to do this through the community, and I think this is a good demonstration of that. I think it’s a great partnership that’s starting between us and ASD.”The event itself received assistance from several local businesses, with the primary sponsorship coming from UBS Financial Services. UBS branch manager Dave Arnold said that when he asked his employees if they would be interested in sponsoring the “Love Local” event, every one of them said they would.“We’re thrilled to be able to sponsor this event,” Arnold said. “We obviously have a lot of opportunities to sponsor a lot of events. An event like this that helps bring together needy organizations with some local farmers in the area to supply produce from them is actually a great event.”Though ASD has received a measure of support from local businesses, Terry said that while the partnership with One ACRE Cafe may be guided by mutual goals, further assistance from the community was still needed.“We are really passionate about partnerships and respecting what each of us does,” Terry said. “We both also really believe in local solutions to local problems.“We just need your passion.”Anyone interested in volunteering or donating to ASD or One ACRE Cafe can do so by visiting their respective websites, asdevelop.org and oneacrecafe.org.
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