COMMUNITY KITCHENS COLLABORATIVE DBA HEAL THE EARTH
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Mission Statement
MISSION: We will support local farmers and food makers with a Food Hub who’s focus will be Value Added Processing, and will also be the center for the following community benefits: *Upcycle food that would go to waste into products to alleviate hunger and generate revenue. *Embody sustainability through revenue generation and the mindful use of resources. *We will launch, support, grow, and accelerate food related businesses in communities that traditionally lack access to funding, expertise, and opportunity so as to build community equity and generational wealth. OUR VISION: WE BELIEVE: *It is possible to end economic inequality, poverty, food waste, and hunger in our communities. * That the best way to accomplish this is through access to business ownership that will foster the growth of generational wealth for everyone. *That local farms are the cornerstone of the food system. *In the Revenue First model of Social Enterprise as the best means to reach our goals. *That both for-profits and nonprofits have significant roles to play in this new community model and that the marriage of the two provides the best opportunity for meaningful change. *In a Food System that pays a living wage to everyone in it, and that change can begin on local farms. OUR CORE VALUES: Grow. We have a default to action and movement. Learn. We thirst for knowledge and best practices. Collaboration is our mantra. Nourish. We take care of our bodies, minds, and spirits and those of our community. Innovate. Today should be better than yesterday and tomorrow must be better than today. Enterprise. The right kind…the Social Enterprise. People, Purpose, Planet, and Profits.
About This Cause
Executive Summary The two main goals of Heal The Earth are to support local farmers and address food insecurity. We will accomplish these through a collective of interlocking and collaborative nonprofit and for-profit entities. The heart of the Nonprofit is a Food Hub and a Value-Added Processing (VAP) Facility serving local farmers and food makers. The use of rescued food and locally purchased produce for processing will provide additional revenue streams for local farms and product to be used to alleviate hunger in the form of foods and meals that are culturally appropriate, affordable, accessible, and delicious. Our campus is on leased space in Northern San Diego County on a farm in the Bonsall/Vista area. Wild Acres Farm is a 34-acre avocado farm started in the 1960’s and transitioning from a conventional-agriculture, woman-owned farm to a modern, organic, regenerative-agriculture, woman-owned farm. It is there that the vision of interconnected and synergistic entities will happen. HTE will partner in the operation of Wild Acres Farm in furtherance of income generation and sustainability for both organizations. Together we have plans for a Farm Store featuring local products of which many will be made onsite in our production facility. Wild Acres Farm has big plans in the works for additional crops such as coffee, wine grapes, tropical fruits, flowers, olives, market crops, beekeeping, and much more. All of these will provide additional opportunities for Heal The Earth's VAP facility. Long term plans include an Agritourism community/space for guests and guest workers to stay on Wild Acres Farm. HTE has located an offsite commercial kitchen for our VAP operation until such time as we can build a permanent processing kitchen onsite. On the Farm, plans are well on their way for a well to reduce water costs, crop diversification, irrigation system upgrade, solar power, and the replacement of older, less productive avocado trees with newer-more productive/disease-resilient varieties. Headquarters & offices will be at the Farm House on Wild Acres Farm. Heal The Earth is a unique non-profit in its commitment to social enterprise and financial sustainability. This mission/business hybrid will be funded in equal part by revenue from product sales and grant/donor contributions. Our revenue-generating activities allow us to fund operations, amplify the impact of our donors’ dollars, and be decisive in directing our resources when new needs and opportunities arise. This model positions HTE to address San Diego’s most pressing challenges of hunger, food waste, and the struggles of small-scale farmers. Background Heal The Earth is a natural extension of the work started by Chuck Samuelson at Kitchens For Good which he founded in 2013 and which continues today positively impacting the San Diego community through Hospitality Workforce training and Social Enterprise. During his time growing the team that would lead Kitchens For Good, Chuck came to believe that the real American Dream was not a good job, but that a good job and a stable income was only a step on the way to financial security, independence, and generational wealth building through business ownership. To further this ideal, Heal The Earth will support local farms at the Food Hub/VAP facility and launch new food-related businesses in the Incubator Kitchen. Programs Heal The Earth will address these and other needs through four initiatives/business units. 1) Food Hub for Aggregation and Distribution of Local Farm Products 2) Hunger Relief through meal and food product production. 3) Food Rescue to provide the raw materials for production. 4) Food Maker Incubator Kitchen. In order to tackle these problems, we have developed several interconnected programs, which comprise Heal The Earth. These four programs will be phased in as funding, partnerships, and facilities (onsite or offsite to start) are available. 1)Food Hub: Heal The Earth will support local farms and producers via a Food Hub for aggregation and distribution of locally produced products. Too long we have depended on large corporations for buying and selling our products. We will take back control of our food system by owning the entire value chain from growing to aggregation/distribution, and marketing/selling. 2)Hunger Relief: Working with local Food Banks and food rescue organizations, HTE will process donated ingredients into nutritious meals and products. The goal is to provide food-insecure communities with food products that achieve the four A’s of responsible food assistance: Appropriate: Food must be culturally appropriate for the recipient. No longer can we be satisfied with providing a box or backpack of mis-matched groceries and calling those meals. Participants in our programs must have agency. They must be able to decide what they eat, and those foods must be familiar and desirable. Accessible: We can and must do better. Healthy, nutritious food must be more accessible. The current model does not adequately serve the chronically food insecure. While it is very good at emergency feeding, our existing Food Bank model is not adequately serving the working poor and others in need. Affordable: By affordable we do not mean free. Free food is a handout and robs the recipient of dignity. Many progressive Food Banks have recognized this and have instituted “client choice” food pantries, but we need to allow people to pay what they can. Amazing: The food we provide must meet all of the previous criteria and then it must be delicious. It needs to be of such quality in the packaging and presentation as to be attractive to everyone. 3)Food Rescue/Processing: This program would add an additional processing step to the Food Bank model in which they will transport donated ingredients to our kitchen, where it will be processed into meals and food products, and then distributed to their clients through existing food distribution programs. Food banks often receive significant food donations that they must throw away because the food is close to expiration. By adding this processing step, we can capture that nutritious food that would otherwise go to waste thereby maximizing our ability to provide more healthy options to hungry San Diegans. 4)Incubator for Food Makers: We will operate a Food Maker Incubator in our VAP processing kitchen to launch new Food businesses. Those new entrepreneurs will find shelf space in our Farm Store and support as graduates of our program. The real American Dream is not a job, but business ownership which secures wealth for future generations.