INSPIRE
meals,” said Thom Duncan, founder of
Slow Food Charlotte. “The innovation
was symbiotic in its collaboration. Teach
people to grow food—a Slow Food
mission—and feed people good healthy
food—a Friendship Trays mission. The
partnership has become a perfect platform to build more collaborative relationships, of which there are many.”
As the idea of creating a network
of community gardens developed,
Friendship Trays and Slow Food
Charlotte called on their community
partners to make the network a reality.
One of the garden leaders at the time
was Henry Owen, who was working
at a local church in mission outreach.
One goal was to create a garden from
which the produce was given to
Friendship Trays. When Friendship
Gardens was launched in 2010, Owen
signed on as the Program Director.
“I was a second grade teacher and I
had no experience with gardening.
From the start, this has been a learning experience,” Owen said. “I have
always been interested in working with
nonprofits, particularly those engaging
with the natural world, and it was exciting to work with a nonprofit that makes
peoples lives better through food and
their engagement with growing food.”
APRIL MAY 2014
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