Registration for the 2014 Annual Conference Meeting the Future: Now Open!

Registration is open! Our (Washington Food Coalition’s) 2014 Annual Conference: Meeting the Future will be educationally valuable, alive with networking and complimented by fun, exciting activities. We will convene in the heart of Washington State at the Wenatchee Convention Center. There will be sharing and collaboration about innovative tools and resources between everyone fighting hunger across Washington State. As the only event in our state with this purpose, we hope to have as many people present as possible to learn together, share ideas and find solutions to practical problems.

Some highlights include keynote speakers, informational workshops, exciting tours and delicious meals. Here are just some of the many events to look forward to!

Tours:

We will visit Pioneer Middle School in Wenatchee to get a taste of their award winning Farm to School Program. Check out their website here and watch the inspiring video below.

The Rhubarb Market is a new market working to strengthen the local food system of North Central Washington by providing the Wenatchee Valley population access to the products of local farmers. Check them out!

Wine tasting at Jones of Washington will be a chance to enjoy the fruit of a local Washington vineyard’s labor. This family-owned winery prides themselves in their production of outstanding artisan wines.

Chelan Douglas Community Action Council is a private non-profit changing the lives of people in their community since 1965. Each month they distribute food to thirteen food bank sites! We will have the chance to check out and learn from their operation.

Keynote Speakers:

 Joel Berg, Executive Director of New York Coalition Against Hunger

Joel Berg is a nationally recognized leader and media spokesman in the fields of domestic hunger, food security, obesity, poverty, food-related economic development, national service, and volunteerism.

He is Executive Director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger and a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. He is also author of All You Can Eat: How Hungry Is America? , the definitive and most well-reviewed book on American hunger of the last decade.

Janet Poppendieck, Professor of Sociology at Hunter College, City University of New York

It’s the rare academic who is able to bridge the gap between research and action. But food scholar Janet Poppendieck, a professor of sociology at Hunter College, City University of New York, has been a galvanizing voice in the food community whose works on poverty, hunger, and food assistance have inspired activism across the country.

Janet is the author of Free for All: Fixing School Food in America; (University of California Press, 2010); Sweet Charity? Emergency Food and the End of Entitlement (Penguin, 1999); and Breadlines Knee Deep in Wheat: Food Assistance in the Great Depression (Rutgers University Press, 1985).

Lastly, but by no means least, our revered Thursday Night Dinner will be at Pybus Market catered by their restaurant Fire. A mouth-watering Italian inspired spread cultivated with local foods will be presented.

This year all tour and meal prices are included in registration, so don’t wait. Those who register before the end of July will receive two complimentary raffle tickets. These tickets can be used in the gift basket raffle of your choice, and you will have special access to the early bird gift basket (where the chances of winning are even higher). Click here to view the form and get started! Or click here for more information.