We recently signed up with Boston Community Change so a portion of what I spend on food, consumables, and other necessaries, can be directed more purposefully towards local needs.

Here’s the scoop from their web page:

Boston Community Change is a tool to align our daily economic activities with our deepest human values.  When you shop, the program generates money for local businesses and nonprofits and creates a way for citizen consumers to make conscientious decisions about their spending that will affect how money circulates within their community.

The program is transforming our communities for the better by changing the way we shop, the way we do business, and the way we support the causes we care about.

Sign up today! (if you are in Boston)

The Eat Well Guide is, as its name implies, a guide to eat well wherever you are. Simply type in the zipcode and it will bring up both restaurants, farms and farmers, local co-ops, caterers, and health food stores (though I think this is an oxymoron - food should be healthy in the first place, but that is another story.)

Help donate free rice with freerice.com. It’s an amazing website that, through playing an addicting vocabulary game, you get the advertisers to donate 10 grains of rice for each word you define correctly. Check it out today. Below is detailed information from the freerice.com faq page:

Who pays for the donated rice?
The rice is paid for by the advertisers whose names you see on the bottom of your vocabulary screen. This is regular advertising for these companies, but it is also something more. Through their advertising at FreeRice, these companies support both learning (free vocabulary for everyone) and reducing hunger (free rice for the hungry). We commend these companies for their participation at FreeRice.

If FreeRice has the rice to give, why not give it all away right now?
FreeRice is not sitting on a pile of rice?you are earning it 10 grains at a time. Here is how it works. When you play the game, advertisements appear on the bottom of your screen. The money generated by these advertisements is then used to buy the rice. So by playing, you generate the money that pays for the rice donated to hungry people.

Who distributes the donated rice?
The rice is distributed by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). The World Food Program is the world’s largest food aid agency, working with over 1,000 other organizations in over 75 countries. In addition to providing food, the World Food Program helps hungry people to become self-reliant so that they escape hunger for good. Wherever possible, the World Food Program buys food locally to support local farmers and the local economy. We encourage you to visit the United Nations World Food Program to learn more about their successful approach to ending hunger.

Will the rice I donate make a difference?
The rice you donate makes a huge difference to the person who receives it. To a mother or father watching a loved child die in their arms from hunger, the rice you donate is more precious than anything in the world.

What is being done to end world hunger?
There is great progress being made to end world hunger. Many organizations across the globe are involved in this struggle. Each day, hundreds of thousands of ordinary men and women work for these organizations. Through their efforts, millions of impoverished people have food to eat, learn skills and find hope for the future.

What else can I do to help end hunger?
Here are two key things you can do to help end hunger. Both are free and easy to do.

1. Join the One Campaign, where several million people have already joined together “as One” to end hunger and severe poverty. If enough people join, dreams for a better world can be made into reality very quickly.
2. The United Nations estimates that the cost to end hunger permanently is about $195 billion a year. Twenty-two countries have joined together to raise this money by each contributing 0.7% (less than 1%) of national income. You can read about it here and print a letter to support your country’s participation here.

Where can I learn more about hunger?
One last important thing you can do to help end hunger is to become knowledgeable about it. A good way to do this is to visit our sister site Poverty.com (designed so that busy people can learn quickly about hunger and poverty) or one of the many excellent sites listed here. We believe that when enough people around the world become knowledgeable about hunger, it will no longer be tolerated.

Special Event in Boston:
Tuesday, October 30, 7pm
at the Lucy Parsons Center

Please join a panel of local folks involved in local and sustainable food for a discussion on the true costs of food and if/how everyone in Boston will be able to afford to eat locally and sustainably.

Jamey Lionette of Lionette’s Market, South End Boston.
A for-profit market focusing on local clean and sustainable food. Jamey is a contributor to Mani­festos on the Future of Food & Seed .

Adrieanna Bozeman & Kettia Louis , Real Food Interns, Food Project: Creating Personal and Social Change through Sustainable Agriculture.
The Food Project serves as a national model for engaging young people in local farming. With the help of hundreds of youth and thousands of volunteers, The Food Project grows nearly a quarter-million pounds of food each year on over 35 acres in rural and urban fields in Eastern Massachusetts, donating half to area shelters. Since 1991, The Food Project has offered more than 750 teenagers from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to work side-by-side on local farms with the goal of building a community of future leaders who care about healthy food, respect diversity and become true stewards of the land.

Matthew Kochka , Urban Farm Manager of ReVision Urban Farm in Dorchester , MA
ReVision Urban Farm is an organic micro-farm whose guiding vision is environmentally, eco­nomically, and socially sustainable urban agriculture. The farm grows a wide variety of food crops on three reclaimed urban lots totaling one-acre of growing space. The farm enhances the delivery of nutrition services throughout our community and increases local awareness of the social, environmental, and economic benefits of sustainable urban agriculture.

Jean Claude Bourrut of the Share Our Strength farm on Boston ’s Long Island
The Farm at Long Island Shelter is a 4-acre organic vegetable, flower and herb farm located in Boston Harbor produces nearly 30,000 pounds of high quality, first harvest produce for the over 850 homeless individuals we serve each day. The Northeast Organic Farming Association certifies the Farm organic and recognizes it as using environmentally sound and sustainable agricultural practices.