Quick links: November Launch & Lunch •June Launch & Lunch • March Kickoff • Sponsors
Fall 2016: Healthy Food, Hunger and Food Waste
Wednesday November 2, 2016 11:30-1:30
Joseph A. Fernekes Recreation Building, Orange Park
781 Tennis Dr, South San Francisco, CA 94080
We completed our 2016 look at our local food system with our Fall Launch & Lunch on Wednesday November 2, 2016 focused on healthy food, hunger, and food waste with a panel of local experts. We also unveiled our “3 B’s” collaborative mapping project with OpenSMC, a civic hack-for- good group part of Code for America.
Event Videos:
Guest Speakers:
- MODERATOR: Jasneet Sharma, Senior Community Health Planner, Health Policy and Planning Program, San Mateo County Health System
- Mary Vollinger, Program Supervisor, UC CalFresh Nutrition Education Program in San Mateo, San Francisco, and Santa Clara Counties
- Nayan Patel, Project Coordinator, Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention, San Mateo County
- LaTrice Taylor, Associate Director of Programs and Services, Samaritan House
Event Hosts: South San Francisco Parks & Rec
Fall Lunch Sponsor:
Spring 2016: Growing Food in San Mateo County
Thursday, June 16, 2016 11:30am – 2:00pm
San Carlos Library Community Rooms A&B
610 Elm St, San Carlos, CA 94070
Our mid-year update included a focus on sustainable agriculture, a report-out of our annual City/County survey on food policies, and exhibitors from across our local food system. The highlight of the event was a panel discussion on local agriculture, including sustainable farming, land preservation, farmworker justice and the future of ag in our community.
Panel Discussion:
MODERATOR: San Mateo County Supervisor Don Horsley
Gordon Clark, Director of Program Development at Peninsula Open Space Trust
Gordon joined POST in 2007 as a conservation project manager, where he worked on land transactions. In 2010, he began splitting his time between POST’s fundraising and land departments, and has now transitioned fully to POST’s major gifts team. Prior to joining POST, Gordon worked for land trusts in Maine and Alaska, and for the Henry P. Kendall Foundation in Boston, which makes environmental grants. He currently serves as a docent for California State Parks’ San Mateo Sector. A resident of Pescadero, Gordon often leads groups of POST’s friends and supporters on visits to the important open spaces and farmlands that the land trust has protected over the past 40 years.
Jered Lawson, Co-Founder of Pie Ranch
Before co-founding Pie Ranch in 2003, Jered worked with various organizations in California that share a common goal of influencing the way people relate to themselves, each other and the land around them through the development of healthy, local and just food systems. Jered leads the organization’s regional advocacy efforts, joins in farm operations, and works with the Board of Directors to raise the necessary support to fulfill the mission and infrastructure improvements of Pie Ranch. Jered lives on the farm with his partner Nancy and their children, Lucas & Rosa and loves to surf when time allows.
Rita Mancera, Executive Director of Puente de la Costa Sur
Rita has been with Puente since 2006, taking the helm as Executive Director in 2016 after roles as Deputy Executive Director, Program Director and Community Builder. She has also worked with the YMCA of Mexico and the Latin American and Caribbean Alliance of YMCAs. She was born and raised in Mexico and immigrated to Pescadero after marrying her husband Jim. As a local mom and PTA member, Rita has close ties to the local school district and a unique understanding of the needs of local parents and students. She loves to learn, and over the years her evolving roles at Puente have given her a chance to become a paralegal, a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) accredited legal worker, a notary public and Zumba instructor.
Spring Lunch Sponsor:
2016 Key Indicator Kick-off: Food Systems
Wednesday, March 2, 2016 11:30am – 1:30pm
Sobrato Center Redwood Shores – Shoreway Room
We kicked-off the 2016 key indicator on Food Systems on March 2nd with a luncheon at the Sobrato Center Redwood Shores. Indicators Program Manager Flora Kaplan shared fresh updates on our population, housing, and environmental indicators, and highlighted innovative food policy in California. Exhibitors, including the San Mateo County Food Systems Alliance, Slow Food South Bay, Beekeepers’ Guild of San Mateo County, and As Fresh As It Gets, shared brief overviews of their programs and talked with attendees about their work. Local food expert Jesse Cool provided the keynote address, sharing her experience as a restaurant owner and chef with a deep commitment to use fresh ingredients and support local organic farmers, and as a consultant helping institutions such as Stanford Hospital rethink their food service to provide healthy and clean food while still saving money.
Jesse Ziff Cool
Jesse Ziff Cool has been dedicated to sustainable agriculture and cuisine since the mid 70’s as a writer, restaurateur, spokesperson and consultant for eco-conscious food service. Jesse is the author of 7 cookbooks and through the years has written for dozens of publications. She founded 5 restaurants, currently operating three in the SF Bay Area. Jesse is a lecturer for Stanford’s Department of Education using her home garden and kitchen as a model classroom. This program was recently accredited, now in the 10th year, and inspires Masters of Education students to develop curriculum that takes children from the garden to the kitchen with a one pot, no recipe and 10 ingredient program. She created Farm Fresh at Stanford Hospital, an organic, local menu option for critically ill in-patients. She continues to consult to institutional food service and health care maintaining her view that it is a major area in which those that need healthy, clean and delicious food are underserved. Jesse sits on three boards: Eco Farm Association, Oldways and JobTrain. The Association of Women Chefs and Restaurateur recently honored Jesse with the 2014 Barbara Tropp Trailblazer Award. Along with spending more time with family, gardening, eating and drinking, her new passion is road biking and restoring a vintage trailer to live off the grid near farm land…allowing her to devour more of all that she loves in life!
Thanks to our Indicators Sponsors for making this program possible:
Platinum: County of San Mateo, Pacific Gas & Electric Company
Gold: Cities/Towns of Brisbane, Colma, Foster City, Portola Valley, San Carlos, San Mateo, South San Francisco
Silver: Cities/Towns of Belmont, Burlingame, East Palo Alto, Half Moon Bay, Hillsborough, Menlo Park, Millbrae, Pacifica, Redwood City
Want to sponsor the Indicators? Contact Adrienne at 650.638.2323 or adrienne [at] sustainablesanmateo [dot] org or donate now.