At Bread for the Journey, we know that every community, no matter how impoverished, has the wisdom, creativity, and strength to make their community more whole and just. Each community has those “creative visionaries” who have ideas, passion, and relationships to make a positive difference; they just need a little “bread for their journey” to bring it to fruition. Hence, our name: Bread for the Journey.

Since 1988, Bread for the Journey’s 20 chapters have nourished and cultivated – with over $3 million in micro-grants – the ideas of passionate people to bring healing and nourishment to communities across the United States.

Today, we share with you a story of a chapter that, over ten years, has seeded many projects related to food - projects that have harvested local abundance to feed the hungry and cultivate the diverse strengths of their community. This month’s story comes from Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol . May it inspire you as it has us.

Nourishing the Body, Feeding the Soul:
Grants from Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol  

Sonoma County , California , has long been one of the richest regions in the country, luring immigrants from distant lands to log redwoods and catch seafood. This diverse population set up chicken, cattle and sheep ranches; they planted orchards, hop yards and vineyards. They established dairy farms and cultivated vast assortments of vegetables. And it was also in Sonoma County that the famed horticulturist Luther Burbank created over 800 strains and varieties of plants, ultimately increasing the world’s food supply. So it should come as no surprise that when the Sebastopol Chapter of Bread for the Journey emerged in 1999, many of its grantees would be linked to gardens and to food.

Planting Earth Activation and Neighborhood Gardens  

One of the first food grants went to eight young visionaries, between ages 18 and 25, who called themselves PEA, for Planting Earth Activation. This movement began in Sebastopol in the late 1990’s to create sustainable and cultural renewal by giving gardens to the community…gardens as places not only to grow food, but for people to come together and develop relationships with each other, their food, and the earth. PEA planted organic gardens in front yards of Sebastopol neighborhoods and encouraged homeowners to help in the planting, talk with their neighbors, and set up tables for extra food. They asked for 25% of the gardens’ yield for their seed bank to perpetuate the planting at virtually no cost. In 1999, Bread for the Journey Sebastopol granted $1,000, plus consulting time on graphics and marketing, to help PEA establish visibility and strength. Ten years later, PEA members continue to form new coalitions to support sustainable development in the community and beyond.

Shortly after giving the PEA grant, Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol partnered with a local hardware store to purchase a garden cart for Sebastopol resident Marjorie Wallace, a “senior citizen” and gardening activist, who donated her home grown vegetables and seeds to elderly and disabled people living on small fixed incomes. In the years that followed, Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol supplied $1,000 to upgrade the watering system at Harvest for the Hungry, a ¾-acre garden in neighboring Santa Rosa, which supports food programs that feed the homeless. And later still, another $1,000 provided a month’s rent to Elaine Neiswender who set up a community garden and food bank in nearby Forestville.

Bread Runs

In 2004 Rachel Jacobson found Bread for the Journey Sebastopol on the Internet “by mistake.” She was living near a well-known Santa Rosa grocery and, while out on evening walks with her dog, noticed large amounts of fresh-baked bread in large black garbage bags in the dumpster. So she got permission to collect the bread at night and, with the help of a few friends, bagged each loaf individually. They were able to distribute between 400-600 loaves per week to local residents and agencies in need. Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol gave Rachel a grant of $400 to help purchase the small plastic bags and gas needed to distribute the bread.

And then Bill Keeler, a wiry, ruddy man in his eighties who had been distributing day-old bread from Whole Foods Market in Sebastopol, approached Bread for the Journey after learning of similar work being done by Rachel in Santa Rosa. The board presented him with a $600 check for gasoline and bag and box expenses so he could continue his distributions to rest homes, homeless shelters, and other places where the elderly and disabled live on fixed incomes. Bill estimated that the grant would cover his costs for a year and a half, in part because he rides his bicycle around town and maintains the car just for his “bread runs.”

Tiny Town Brews an International Project

A day labor center opened in the one-block town of Graton in 2006. While the focus of the non-profit Graton Day Labor Center/Centro Laboral de Graton (CLG) is on helping local workers, employers, businesses and residents, it could do little to improve the situation that drove these workers, mostly from Mexico, to leave their homes in the first place to seek work in the United States. So CLG created a coffee project to address these very needs.

Bread for the Journey Sebastopol, while primarily focused on neighborhood philanthropy, has always had a special interest in international projects and followed the story of the coffee project from its inception. Workers’ Brew, organic, shade-grown, fair-trade coffee beans, were purchased by CLG from a co-op of family farmers in Oaxaca, then roasted and packaged locally. The coffee bean purchase supports Oaxacan families staying on their land, encourages earth-enhancing farming practices, and puts profits into their grassroots economy. The local roaster, Taylor Maid Farms, offered to train day laborers in the coffee business so they might return home to their communities with a new set of skills. Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol’s $660 grant to Merrilyn Joyce at CLG covered the cost of printing beautiful labels for the cans. The coffee is available in local grocery stores and at farmers’ markets, donning an attractive label that tells the story of CLG and its link to Oaxacan organic farmers.

The Petaluma Bounty Hunters

Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol expanded their support of food redistribution in 2007 when they discovered the Petaluma Bounty Hunters, a brainchild of Grayson James, whose dream is to gather the bounty of Sonoma County—the loads of unpicked fruits & vegetables from backyards, and the unserved cuisine from banquets—and get this fresh food to the local food pantries. Volunteer participants can be “deputized,” get a badge, and become a part of the “posse,” gleaning food for the hungry. With $1,000 from Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol, these feisty deputies were able to print additional postcards to be distributed around town, as well as buy a panel truck and harvesting ladders to pick apples.

The Ceres Project

Cathryn Couch first approached Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol for help in creating a program to teach cooking skills to young adults so they could prepare meals for people in need. Unable to get her non-profit status, Cathryn returned the $1000 check to Bread for the Journey, but did not give up her dream. The following year she began her operation and re-applied for the grant. High school students gathered regularly to prepare organic meals for families facing serious health crises—chopping vegetables for side dishes, sautéing onions for a minestrone soup, mixing ingredients for a turkey loaf.

This innovative project has two major intentions. The first is to empower young people with cooking and organizing skills, giving them the knowledge that they can make a difference and the direct experience of how food supports our bodies and lives. The second is to provide nutritious, organic meals to families and individuals in need. The $1,000 seed grant from Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol provided this project with essential cooking equipment such as knives, cutting boards, storage bins and recyclable containers for delivering food, as well as staples, such as beans, grains, spices and canned goods. The grant also provided funds to donate to the church for utilities. Today, the Ceres Project has acquired additional funding and expanded their operation to include visits to neighboring towns. Over 125 teens from twelve different high schools have delivered more than 20,000 meals to individuals and families in Sonoma County who are facing serious illnesses. Today they have more than 100 active teen and adult volunteers. And they have begun to produce a line of their healthy food products to market in local stores.

Bread for the Journey: cultivating seeds that nourish communities

By giving small seed grants to the right person at the right time, BFJ of Sebastopol has helped harvest the abundance in their community to feed people in need, and to cultivate relationships, skills, and resourcefulness in the process.

In these times of economic crisis, we could so easily give in to fears of scarcity, and clutch our individual resources close to our chests. Yet this is the very time we need to look with new eyes around the table of our community, and see the richness of gifts each person brings to the feast. The seeds of abundance are right here among us, in our own community. At Bread for the Journey, we work everyday to help communities cultivate seeds of vision and passion, so that all can be nourished.

Warmly,

Wayne Muller
Founder

Bread for the Journey has 501 (c) (3) tax exempt status with the IRS.
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Click here to read the previous INSPIRATIONS.