April 2021 newsletter

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Sitka Local Foods Network
http://www.sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org/
https://www.facebook.com/SitkaLocalFoodsNetwork
408 Marine Street, Suite D
Sitka, Alaska 99835
sitkalocalfoodsnetwork@gmail.com
Board of directors — Charles Bingham, president/communications director; Amanda Anjum, treasurer; Laura Schmidt, St. Peter's Fellowship Farm lead gardener (honorary board member); Nalani James, Sitka Farmers Market co-manager; Ariane Martin Goudeau, Sitka Farmers Market co-manager; we have space for you on our board.

Michalski, James win food contest

Congratulations to Joanne "Chef Jo" Michalski of Muddy Mermaid Mudd Pies and Nalani James of Eggstravagant for winning $1,500 each in the fourth annual Sitka Food Business Innovation Contest. Chef Jo won in the established business division for her caramel frozen yogurt desserts, while Nalani won in the start-up business division for her new egg venture. The entrants were judged on how they planned to incorporate local foods into their business, how they planned to improve employment in Sitka, the commerciality of their business idea, and how their businesses fill a need in Sitka. For more details, click this link.

An update on the Sitka Farmers Market

The Sitka Local Foods Network is finalizing plans for the 2021 Sitka Farmers Markets, and this year we hope to host a more traditional market than we could last year with COVID-19. Since COVID-19 is still around, even with more people being vaccinated, we still won't be having an indoor market. But we hope to announce an outdoor location near downtown soon, as well as the dates and adjusted market details. We will incorporate some weekly ordering using the Salt and Soil online platform, like we had last year, but also hope to be able to have more vendors and items available for sale. For more details, click this link.

Pick.Click.Give. open until March

Wednesday, March 31, is the last day when Alaskans can file for their 2021 Permanent Fund Dividends. When you file for your PFD, you can share the wealth through Pick.Click.Give. with 611 participating nonprofits around Alaska, including 20 that operate in Sitka. The Sitka Local Foods Network is participating in the Pick.Click.Give. again in 2021, and we'd love your support.

Your donation to the Sitka Local Foods Network helps us grow fresh local produce at St. Peter's Fellowship Farm, which we sell at the Sitka Farmers Market, where we match SNAP and WIC benefits to make local produce more available to low-income Sitkans. It also helps us teach gardening classes in the spring, and spark entrepreneurship with the Sitka Food Business Innovation Contest.

You can file for your PFDs from Jan. 1 through March 31, and the Pick.Click.Give. charitable giving program comes up at the end of the application. If you forget to make a PCG donation when you initially file your PFD application, you can go back online and update your PCG donations through Aug. 31, so long as your PFD application was submitted before March 31. For more details, click this link.

Like local food? Join our board of directors

Did you enjoy the fresh local veggies at the Sitka Farmers Market this summer? Did you take one of our garden education classes this spring? Do you have an interest in getting more access to locally grown, harvested and produced food, and an interest in food security? If so, please consider joining our board of directors. We need new board members to keep offering these programs, and we'd love to have you join us. We need board members to keep things going, especially since we may be losing a couple to military relocation. If we don't find new board members, we may have to scale back our programs.

For more details, please click this link. This page has links to our board job descriptions and applications. Our next meeting will be from 6-7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 14. Due to COVID-19 coronavirus health concerns and the need to social-distance, we will meet using Zoom online meetings (email us at the address below for a meeting link). Feel free to check us out. Our meetings are open to the public. For details and a meeting link, contact SLFN board president Charles Bingham at 623-7660 or sitkalocalfoodsnetwork@gmail.com.

2021 sponsorship program opens

The 2021 Sitka Local Foods Network sponsorship program is open, and businesses and individuals are encouraged to contribute to help us keep our programs going and fulfill our mission of increasing the amount of locally harvested and produced foods in the diets of Southeast Alaskans. Your donations help us host the Sitka Farmers Market, grow food at St. Peter's Fellowship Farm (we just ordered a new high tunnel in December 2020 so we can grow more produce for the markets), provide garden education classes in the spring, and sponsor the Sitka Food Business Innovation Contest. Food security is a tenuous thing in Sitka, and we're trying to do our part to improve our community food security.

We thank the Alaska Comprehensive Cancer Control Partnership, the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC), ALPS Federal Credit Union, Harry Race/White's Inc., and The Skaggs Foundation for donating in 2021. We also thank the Sitka White Elephant Shop (White E), Sitka True Value, Sea Mart and Market Center, First National Bank Alaska and Sweet Sisters Caramels for supporting us with their sponsorships for 2020. In addition, we thank The Alaska Community Foundation, the Sitka Legacy Foundation, David and Margaret Steward, Linda Schmidt, Amanda Anjum, Charles Bingham, and our other individual donors for their support. To learn more about our sponsorship program, click this link.

Copyright © 2015-21, Sitka Local Foods Network, All rights reserved.

You are receiving this email because you joined our listserv or gave us your email at one of our events. We thank you for your support of local foods in Sitka and Southeast Alaska. We do not share our email lists with other groups.

Our mailing address is:
Sitka Local Foods Network
408 Marine Street, Suite D
Sitka, Alaska 99835

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Sitka Local Foods Network · 408 Marine Drive, Suite D · Sitka, AK 99835 · USA