FIG members volunteered over 200 hours of labor, over 30 hours of equipment use, and over $250.  In addition to the work of Rob Porter, WIU faculty members and FIG members Heather McIlvaine-Newsad and Joel Gruver contributed their time and expertise to writing the grant.  In the Peace Corps Fellows office at WIU Program Manager Karen Mauldin-Curtis and Internal Coordinator Karen Peitzmeier, both FIG members, worked to include a Peace Corps Fellow into the final draft of the grant.  They were also the people that informed FIG about Dr. Porter’s community garden project and enabled FIG to make a commitment.

So what next?  While we wait to hear if the USDA grant is approved it seems clear that there is support in Macomb for a new community garden project.  Dr. Porter plans to call a planning meeting in early January 2010 to get the ball rolling  Stay tuned!

Local food is delicious!

On August 8th, 2009, FIG hosted its second annual Local Foods Dinner fundraiser at Taylor Hall on the Macomb Square.  Coordinated by FIG Board of Directors member Vajo Necak, the dinner raised over $1,700.00 to support FIG projects.  Chef Dan Murphy led the FIG cooking team in providing a delicious meal to over 95 guests.  A tomato and cheese bruschett appetizer was followed by a choice of three entres: braised chicken topped by corn salsa, braised beef tenderloin with carmalized shallots and red wine jus, and a Shitake mushroom polenta tart.  A wheat berry salad with french bread baguettes and a desert of lemon pound cake topped with blueberry jam and creme fraiche rounded out the menu designed by FIG memeber Heather McIlvaine-Newsad.   The event was covered by local radio station WIUM 91.3 FM. Heather McIlvaine-Newsad’s radio commentary on the dinner asked listeners to “vote with their fork.”

The event…

We sold out and had more people still asking for tickets on Saturday. We had 23 FIG staff helping to host the dinner. There was a great energy as people continued to fill the rooms and opened their menus and special edition food guides. They knew they were about to experience something really unique. As the evening got underway, John Curtis delivered some opening remarks. There was complete silence and unanimous laughter at all the right moments. As the courses came out, the energy in the room intensified. People were enjoying getting to know the others at their table and were anticipating the next course. Behind the scenes was full of comradery, industriousness, steam (dishwashing) and beauty–chilled multicolored borscht swirling, tomato stacking, rainbow chard and carrot chopping, tart filling, and assembly lines of food plating. The FIG staff had as much fun hosting the event as the community that was feasting.

Thanks to everyone who purchased tickets for friends or sponsored tickets for guests of our choice!

The news…

• Macomb Eagle, August 13

The contributions…

Vajo Necak, event coordinator: collaborated with Dan Murphy on selecting the menu, creating food budget, preparing the food (~32 hours outside of work time the week prior to the event); sourced produce, facilitated communications with many folks involved, picked up food guides, kept records of ticket sales and meal preferences, worked out floor plan, secured building arrangements, secured furniture, transported furniture, and much more… including clean up till 2 am, more the following day, and accounts management.

Dan Murphy, chef: selected menu; created food budget; prepared foods and created evening game plan (~32 hours outside of work time the week prior to the event); managed the 25 FIG event staff; donated tablecloths, napkins, pitchers, bread baskets, bowls and other kitchenware for the event; cleaned up coolers and other supplies.

Eddie Chan: served as sous-chef; spent a good 20 hours in food prep; helped manage FIG staff on night of; ran errands for special needs; helped clean up.

Erin Orwig/Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs: designed the menu card; printed the menu and comment cards and provided envelopes; invited potential advisory board members to the dinner with a mailing; made a deposit; sat in numerous board meeting discussions about the dinner and sent out the minutes from each meeting.

Kelley Quinn: organized the “day of” set-up-arranging for flowers to be picked, arranging the flowers; directing help; making limeade from scratch; receiving dozens of cced emails to Vajo from Lisa; giving up family time so her husband could be off planning;

John Curtis: wrote up a detailed document about the vision of the event for the board; advertised the dinner at the Barefoot Gardens CSA; harvested and provided food and flowers; moved furniture; prepared and delivered remarks for the evening; seated people; served; hosted the evening

Ann Runner: sold tickets; provided eggs; ordered more t-shirts; worked with Sports-Zone staff to iron the logo on the t-shirts; contacted Lions club and borrowed their silverware; washed dishes (THANK YOU SO MUCH!), served, helped clean up…and sat through and participated in long board meetings.

Jan Welsch: stuffed and mailed dinner invitations to potential advisory board members and community leaders associated with financial institutions; conducted necessary communications; came early and helped stuff sugar packs, cream, etc. for each table; helped with everything behind the scenes that needed doing–tomato slicing!, tart filling, loading trays into racks, etc.; cleaned up;

Amelia Fox: helped move furniture; arrived early to help with food prep (despite family in town); sliced tomatoes; donated C&H packets and sorted into little containers; served tables; cleaned up; canned excess tomatoes and tomato parts!

Dan Barclay: sat through long meetings; received and read lots of email; made decisions; helped with everything behind the scenes that needed doing that night–tomato stacking, soup pouring, tray loading, tart filling, etc.; cleaned up

Scott Worl: sourced the meat products; harvested and provided food; sourced other food products; interviewed with Rich Egger; moved furniture; chopped basil, poured soup; opened fish packets?, and more on the evening of… cleaned up till 2 am.

Leslie Timlin: crafted a press release; web-searched for newspaper contacts; sent the press release to 20 some media contacts; donated bread baskets; folded 100 food guides; washed tomatoes, served tables, sorted plates, cleaned up.

C.T. Weiss: designed and printed tickets.

Jamie Lane: hard core dish washer… difficult and thankless job. Thank you so much!

Karen Mauldin-Curtis: hard core dish washer… difficult and thankless job. Thank you so much!

Linda Cox: sold tickets to the public through New Copperfield’s Book Service; prepared tilapia; washed kitchen tools and scrubbed pots; boiled pasta; cleaned up till 2 am.

Anne Patterson: harvested and provided food; made a delivery to Lewistown to save us a trip; donated a ticket; washed and stacked tomatoes, scrubbed pots, helped with other kitchen tasks; cleaned up.

Kristy Boggs: delivered blackberries from Havana; served tables; helped with drink making/straining; cleaned up.

Rich Egger: followed this story from field to plate!! (and that was no simple task–especially when on vacation); shared photos.

Michelle Langhout: washed tomatoes; helped with drinks; served tables; did whatever needed doing; cleaned up.

Anne Lobdell: served tables; helped with drinks; set tables; helped keep the people happy.

Karen Peitzmeier: Bonus helper! brought much needed napkins in the nick of time; helped with everything in the back from plate serving to chopping to cleaning; assisted with early planning..which helped us realize we needed to seek donations instead of renting supplies if we were going to be able to afford the event.

Heather McIlvaine Newsad: lead early planning which helped us realize we needed to seek donations instead of renting supplies if we were going to be able to afford the event; sent timely information about National Farmer’s Market week.

Sean Genovese: Bonus helper! helped set tables, serve tables, plate food, and more.

Dev Genovese: Lent us 300 plates from the Moses King National Historic District (The Brickyard) on very short notice.

Peter Cole: served tables, set tables, helped keep the people happy!

Joel Gruver: assisted with food pickups; served tables; provided mason jar vases; set up and took down trial sound system; cleaned up.

Margaret Ovitt: ironed tablecloths; came in the afternoon and helped set tables, arrange flowers, provided vases and prairie flowers for windows!; feasted happily and brought family.

Claire Kernic: came in the afternoon and helped set tables and arrange flowers.

Debby Dallefeld: came in the afternoon to help set up tables, stuff menus, and arrange flowers; donated meat.

Ken Dallefeld: helped move furniture before and after the event with his truck; donated meat.

Erin Easterling: posted announcements on website; edited food guide; responded to random calls from Lisa about the food guide; continues to post dinner info and recipes on the website.

Holly Stovall: ironed tablecloths.

Marjorie Allison: ironed tablecloths; feasted happily and brought a friend.

Stocking family: helped with food pickups; picked zinnias; set tables and arranged flowers in the afternoon; photographed the evening (Andy); happily feasted on the meal!

Colchester Lions Club: lent us their silverware.

Leffler Family of Twelve Baskets: ground the soft red winter wheat into flour.

Andy Clayton: facilitated drop off and pick up of wheat and flour.

Annie Moore: sat in on early meetings; donated supplies like tablecloths.

Sports Zone: ironed logos on shirts gratis.

Lisa Fulkerson/University of Illinois Extension: printed 100 color copies of the food guide.

Brenda Derrick/U of I Extension Adams/Brown County: posted our press release on their blog; sent out an email to their listserv.

West Central Illinois Special Education Cooperative: lent us tables and chairs.

Dan Lewis: permitted use of the Coffee House and Taylor Hall.

The Wine Sellers: offered their space during the event.

Lisa Gruver: enjoyed watching everyone else work!

Thanks to everyone! The whole event could not have happened without the plates, lent by Dev Genovese–and they had to be clean plates. This means that prior to the dinner, the dishwashing team washed them all before we could even use them…. and then they did the same thing when they came back dirty! Some of the grungiest jobs are the most important!

If you have pictures from the event, please send them to joelandlisa@gmail.com. Thanks!