We launched resourcED, an educational initiative to support the independent food movement during the pandemic, in the spring of 2020 in partnership with Blue Hill.
The centerpiece of the initiative was resourcED meal boxes, through which we purchased 95,000 lbs of local food and contributed $445,000 to the local farming economy at a time when restaurants had shuttered. From that model the Blue Hill team developed the resourcED Donation Box, which included local, healthy and nutritious meals and ingredients for community members facing food insecurity and frontline healthcare workers. Many thanks to all those who purchased Donation Boxes and enabled us to provide more than 1,000 meals to the staff at Phelps Hospital, Northern Westchester Hospital and Open Door Family Medical Centers, the Public School of the Tarrytowns, the Project Bravo Food Pantry and the Tarrytown Municipal Housing Authority. At a time when so much felt bleak, we hope these meals brought joy and comfort.
Through resourcED we also conducted a survey of independent farmers across the country to learn about how they were coping with the pandemic, and as a result launched Harvest Corps in partnership with WWOOF (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms). This program connected out-of-work culinary professionals and students to volunteer opportunities on farms so they could use the time to dig into their relationship with food.
We kept the conversation going between cooks, farmers and others across the world through the Kitchen Farming Project. What started with three Blue Hill cooks in small garden spaces at Stone Barns Center grew to a global phenomenon with 4,000 novice gardeners signed up in nearly 80 countries, who followed along with our farmers’ advice throughout the season and shared their own stories on Instagram through the #kitchenfarmingproject hashtag. Read The New York Times profile of five chefs who participated in the project.
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As we begin to emerge from the pandemic and work toward a renewed food system, we will carry the many lessons of resourcED with us. We are so grateful to the many partners, supporters and friends with whom we collaborated during the initiative to help shore up our regional food system and inspire food systems change even in the face of such devastation.
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