podcast: The Church and Rural Food Systems

Luke Edwards talks with Jaimie McGirt of Resourceful Communities which focuses on environmental stewardship, social justice and sustainable economic development across rural NC. Click here to listen to the podcast.

These strategies, detailed below, help faith-focused groups rethink their food ministries with a focus on lasting, positive impacts for – and with – those in most need.  

 

Training and Technical Assistance

• We provide training and technical assistance, free-of-charge, to help launch or strengthen efforts to increase healthy food access and grow local food economies.
• We support project planning, grant writing, budgeting, evaluation and more.
• We provide skills building workshops in community and youth engagement, volunteer management and other topics to strengthen community programming. We also offer a variety of workshops to strengthen skills and promote replication of successful strategies.

Small Grants

We provide small grants to fund innovative projects that improve local economies and access to healthy foods. We can share strategies to develop effective projects and help you connect with other resources. Projects might include supporting innovative buying programs to reach vulnerable populations; teaching food preservation using local produce; launching farm-to-table programs that highlight local growers; and more.

Connections

We help churches and faith-based groups engage with one another, community groups and the resources they need to serve their communities.

Resourceful Communities is uniquely positioned to help organizations in North Carolina because of our unique triple bottom line approach, which strengthens community resilience and self-sufficiency.

CASE STUDIES

The case studies below highlight innovative Food and Faith projects developed by some of our partners. We hope these examples provide inspiration for other innovative food ministries. Contact us for more details.

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Wheels of Hope
Mobile food ministry, Edgerton Memorial United Methodist Church


Wheels of Hope is a food truck that gives away homemade, hot, balanced meals to neighborhoods in need in Selma, NC. Not only are they providing good food, they also are building bridges within their community. The ministry is unique, mindful about whom it serves and intentionally strengthening relationships in the town. 

"I think that what makes Wheels of Hope cool is that it's just a different slant on an old way of doing things. Instead of making people come to the soup kitchen, we take it to them" 

-Allyson Casion, Wheels of Hope coordinator

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The Garden of Concord
Community garden, Concord United Methodist Church 


The Garden of Concord in Graham, NC does more than just grow food. The variety of outreach that the garden carries out shows how many ways a garden can foster community. The Garden of Concord is also creative in the different ways they share and distribute their produce, including selling to local restaurants. 

"The sky's the limit when God's involved"

-Donne Poe, former garden coordinator

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Black Creek Sow and Reap Garden
Community garden, Black Creek United Methodist Church

 
The Sow and Reap Garden at Black Creek United Methodist church in Black Creek, NC, provides good food and learning opportunities to anyone who is interested. The garden started in response to the need for increased food access in the area and transformed into much more than a food source. They are a welcome part of the community and have many partnerships within the town that help the garden succeed. 

"It's a blessing, and it's fun" 

-Larry, garden committee member

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Open Hearts Bakery
Bakery at St. Matthews United Methodist Church


What's better than buying delicious baked goods at your local farmers market? When all the profits support missions and outreach! Open Hearts is a completely self-sustaining bakery run out of St. Matthews United Methodist Church in Morganton, NC. The $50,000 they make a year goes towards employing economically and employment challenged folks to bake, and funding other missions of the church and community. Sometimes a food ministry is more than just feeding people!

"Giving people a hand up instead of a handout"

-Madelyn Russ, bakery coordinator