ACU’s Locavore Club will team up with Seekers of the Word and Wishing Well to host Project Sustain, an event promoting locally grown food and a healthy lifestyle. The event will take place in Cullen Auditorium on Thursday from 6-10 p.m.
Seekers of the Word, ACU’s on-campus drama ministry, will perform during the event. The performance will be followed by the movie Fresh – a documentary illustrating the dangers of eating industrialized foods and the benefits of local foods.
Area farms, including Slow Poke Farm, will exhibit their locally-grown products. Wishing Well will host a fund-raising event for charities overseas by selling baked goods, T-shirts, handmade necklaces and pieces of art.
The New Oxford American Dictionary announced “locavore” as its word of the year for 2007. The word is used to describe people who prefer to eat locally-produced food.
The ACU Locavore Club organizes events to promote the economical, nutritional, social and spiritual benefits of locally-grown food. They also advocate sustainable, small-scale agricultural systems.
Matthew Hale, senior communication major from Uvalde, is the president of ACU Locavore Club. He said eating local food is beneficial to the local economy and allows people to have better knowledge of the food they eat and where it comes from.
Hale said eating natural and healthy local food is a something that also can connect you with God the creator.
“Nutritionally, the benefit is outrageous,” Hale said. “If you buy one tomato from the local farm, it has more nutritious value than five tomatoes at the grocery store.”
Hale explained that tomatoes at supermarkets were picked when they were green and then subjected to chemicals so they can be transported thousands of miles to a supermarket. Local farmers pick tomatoes when they are ripe, without adding artificial chemicals.
However, Hale said local foods usually cost more than traditional grocery store foods and are harder to get.
“Local food costs more, but its worth more,” Hale said.
Evelyn Henshaw, senior communications major from San Diego and vice president of the Locavore Club, said the event is open to anyone.
“Anybody who wants to make a difference should come,” Henshaw said.
Wishing Well will be raising money at the event for the construction of wells that provide clean water in developing nations. It partners with other organizations around the world to help provide clean water in Ghana, West Africa and Afghanistan and built a water purification system in Haiti. In 2008, it raised approximately $20,000.
Benjamin Fulfer, senior sociology major from Memphis and director of Wishing Well, said Project Sustain is a good opportunity to learn more about Wishing Well and make a difference.
“There are two reasons why I want to do this,” Fulfer said. “One is that water is such a necessity in life, but a lot people don’t have clean water; and a lot of diseases come from not having clean water. This is a tangible and easy way to help. Another reason is that we are allowing college students to be able to use their talents, abilities and passions to do something good.”
To learn more about the Locavore Club visit the group’s Facebook page or e-mail aculocavore@gmail.com.
