Local Food Challenge “hearts” Food Day – and you should too

Let me introduce you to Food Day. We here at the Challenge selected Food Day as our major partner because it’s a hand in glove relationship. Their annual event – Food Day – is October 24, a day to resolve to make changes in our own diets and to take action to solve food-related problems in our communities at the local, state, and national level. In 2015, Food Day has the theme “Toward a Greener Diet.”

A local food diet is about as green as it gets

Because of our emphasis on eater empowerment and how changed eaters can be food system game changers, the 10-Day Local Food Challenge is one of their few featured projects – and we are thrilled. We hope you will support them by celebrating in your community. Here’s how to get involved. From potlucks to lectures to activities in schools to more radical events, please sign up to host an event and tell them the Challenge sent you.

We chose to celebrate Food Day today, 2 weeks before the Challenge begins, because they have just launched a new crowd-funding campaign with Barnraiser to reach 10 million new people with the message of Real Food! We encourage you to chip in to this campaign, because they are a major multiplier of so many of the values and the spirit we hold dear.

Food Day provides common ground for building the food movement and seeks to inspire community action in every city and state in the country, with individuals and organizations coming together on and around October 24 to learn, debate, and mobilize to create a just food system and improve the American diet.

Background on Food Day

With Food Day, we can celebrate our food system when it works and fix it when it’s broken. Across the country, more than 8,000 events took place in 2014, from community festivals in Denver, Savannah, and New York City, to a panel discussion on food justice in Washington, DC, to thousands of school activities in Portland, Minneapolis, and elsewhere. Hundreds of events are being planned on and around October 24, 2015, in all 50 states. See a beautiful slide show with photos from 3200 events nationwide.

Why Food Day?

The typical American diet is contributing to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems. Those problems cost Americans more than $150 billion per year. Plus, a meat-heavy diet takes a terrible toll on the environment.

Eating Real can save your own health and put our food system on a more humane, sustainable path. With America’s resources, there’s no excuse for hunger, low wages for food and farm workers, or inhumane conditions for farm animals.

Join the Movement

The most important ingredient in Food Day is you! Use October 24 to start—or celebrate—eating a healthier diet and putting your family’s diet on track. Food Day is not just a day; it’s a year-long catalyst for healthier diets and a better food system. Let’s use this energy to make a meaningful and long-lasting difference!

We and Food Day leverage change in similar ways

1. A campaign with a date in time – for us it’s October 1-10, for Food Day it’s October 24 – can build momentum. When we celebrate annually, when we study and organize around a specific time frame, we leap forward in our own commitment to change and be change makers. Change can ooze or change can catch fire from a spark. These events kindle a bigger movement.
2. An intention to link many localized projects into a shared intention. These are moments when we actually see the extent of our movement and can celebrate together. Change work is sometimes lonely – those little groups working hard together locally – and it’s hard to see whether your drop is actually filling any bucket. Celebrations that link us are so en-courage-ing.

So let’s do it. Support Food Day October 24. Support the Challenge October 1-10. And plan your menus, folks. C-day (Challenge) is almost upon us.