Hello Friend of People's Grocery!

Welcome to the last e-newsletter for 2009! There's lots to be grateful for around here as we wrap up another year and move forward into 2010. Special thank you's to our former board members Carina Wong and Tynisa Zawde for their time, dedication and energy. We send our support and well wishes to Rich Merrill, our esteemed garden & farm consultant. We hope you all have a warm holiday season, and may your new year be an inspiring one!

Welcome Nikki Henderson: Our New Executive Director! After much anticipation we are excited to announce that People’s Grocery’s Board of Directors has chosen Nikki Henderson as our new Executive Director. Nikki comes to People’s Grocery at a perfect and exciting time as the organization begins to take bold steps towards scaling its work and deepening the impact of its mission of building a community food system that improves the health and economy of the West Oakland community. She will begin work officially on January 11, 2010. Read more about Nikki and listen to an audio podcast by Brahm and Nikki

Call for Harvesting Justice Volunteers We really need some super volunteers to help us with our annual Harvesting Justice Brunch. We need some food prep help in the week before the event and we need about 10 more set-up, wait staff, and clean-up volunteers for the January 30th event. Food Prep: Helpers to come on January 25th, 27th, 28th, and 29th between 8am and 2pm. 4 hour minimum. 2 people max at each day/time. Day-of: Volunteers to arrive at 8am. Help set-up and serve the brunch. All volunteers to receive a yummy meal and your choice of our cool new t-shirt or our new chico shopping bag. Please contact Nisha Anand asap if you can help with any of these tasks. Nisha@peoplesgrocery.org Learn about Harvesting Justice 2010

St. Mary's Center Grub Boxes for the Holidays Last week People's Grocery partnered with our neighbors at St. Mary's Center to distribute Grub Boxes to 250 low-income families. A direct service organization that serves low-income seniors, families, and preschoolers in downtown and West Oakland, St. Mary's provided each family with Christmas gifts for the children and 2 Grub Boxes to support healthy eating for the whole family. Each family received one Grub Box on the spot and will get another one in January. Working with St. Mary's provides the opportunity for People's Grocery to connect with people who we want to work with food stamp users, Spanish speakers, and the working poor. Thank you to all the staff and volunteers and especially St. Mary's Center for making this happen. Sign up for your Grub Box

Get adjusted and support "Food Justice" Hikari Chiropractic in Berkeley has generously extended a special offer of health and wellness to the People's Grocery community. For only $80, you will receive two private appointments with Dr. Koichi Naruishi, which include an evaluation, consultation, and adjustment. In addition, you will be contributing half of your proceeds ($40) to support community building programs of People's Grocery. Call 510-428-2332 to schedule your appointment today. Offer expires Feb. 28, 2010. Thank you to Dr. Naruishi for this holistic opportunity to support People's Grocery.

Grub Box Holiday Schedule Just a quick reminder that there will be no Grub Boxes distributed during the last 2 weeks of the year, from December 21, 2009 - January 3, 2010. If you have a Grub Box scheduled for this time, Tuesday service will resume on January 5, and Friday pick ups will resume on January 8. If your subscription expires this month or you pay weekly, please be sure to submit payment BY JANUARY 1 to reserve a box for the beginning of January. Happy Holidays! Pay for your Grub Box online

"People's Grocery Dishes It Up" Thank you to Caitlin Donohue for her December post in the San Francisco Bay Guardian Arts and Culture Blog. She writes "West Oakland’s People’s Grocery puts working people at the forefront of the fight for healthy, sustainable food for their community... So rock on, People’s Grocery. The kind of action, is what it's going to take to convert our country to a sustainable, equitable food system for all." Link to this post and video (and more articles) about People's Grocery

Sustainable Cuba and People's Grocery This winter, People's Grocery's Victoria Fabella, will be joining Global Exchange on a research and humanitarian "Reality Tour" to learn about "Sustainable Cuba: How Cuba Meets its Food, Medicine, Shelter & Energy Needs While Protecting its Environment". In 2006 the World Wildlife Fund determined there was only one nation in the world that could truly be designated as living "sustainably," and that nation was Cuba. Cuba models, for the rest of the world, the possibility of obtaining a high quality of life, on a relatively small national budget, while utilizing low levels of the planet's limited resources. This tiny island nation is showing us a possible way to live simply, healthfully, and sustainably on the Earth by growing their own organic food in small productive "huertas", gardens built on derelict urban land. To learn more, follow the link below and check out the video "Urban Food Growing in Havana". Link to Urban Gardens in Havana video

Thank you for reading and being involved with People's Grocery. Please forward this to your network.

~Victoria Fabella and the staff at People's Grocery