October Update: Leave No One Behind

This October 12th marks 4 days until World Food Day and one month until the November 12th application deadline for the 8th Annual SeedMoney Challenge. The two events are more connected than you think, especially this year. 

World Food Day is a day of global awareness and action for those working to end food insecurity in their local community and abroad. The global context is particularly concerning this year. The Ukraine war has disrupted grain and fertilizer flows, causing a food security crisis that threatens more than 345 million people. Climate change-fueled extreme weather events like Hurricane Ian in Florida and the floods that have recently ravaged Pakistan are also affecting the food security of many people.

World Food Day has a theme each year and this year’s is “Leave No One Behind,” a slogan that resonates with SeedMoney’s work. We, too, in our own little way, are working to grow a world where EVERYONE has access to food that is healthy for them and the planet.

We believe that small-scale projects like community gardens, community farms, school gardens and food bank gardens will play an increasingly important and stabilizing role in an uncertain future. Many things are required to help these small-scale food projects take root and flourish: 

  • visionary individuals who see plants and possibilities where others see empty spaces
  • access to land and clean water
  • committed community members who are ready to roll up their sleeves and do the hard work
  • and, last but not least, funding to buy the seeds, supplies, tools and other materials food garden projects require

While no one can do everything, everyone can do something and the “something” that SeedMoney focuses on is that last point: making it easier for communities to raise the funds they need to start up a new garden project or sustain an existing one. Our main way of doing this is through our annual SeedMoney Challenge, which will be awarding 370 challenge grants this year ranging from $100 to $1000. One action you can take this week in celebration of World Food Day is to share this once-a-year funding opportunity with people in your community who you think could benefit from it. Working together, we can ensure that we leave no one behind when it comes to healthy, garden-grown food!

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