Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Terra Madre.. Why a donate button?




In my last post, I spoke of Beth's impending trip to Terra Madre and included a "Donate Now" PayPal button to help raise some money to defray some of the costs of the trip.

Some readers may ask "Why ask for money?" "It's your choice to go, shouldn't you pay for it?" Indeed, these are questions that Beth wrestled with in making the decision on whether or not to go to Terra Madre. The fact that Slow Food Chicago is already footing a good part of the bill made Beth hesitate to pass the hat herself.

But... the funds from Slow Food Chicago exist because of their fundraising. They raise money to send local food leaders to Terra Madre because it is important that their community is represented by articulate, knowledgeable, and passionate food producers that understand the issues of our region, AND because those leaders will use what they learn in Italy to further the Slow Food cause when they get home. Beth is such a leader...and why she was chosen as a delegate.

Beth will represent the Slow Food community at Terra Madre.  She will, also, represent the Cedar Valley Sustainable Farm community. Although there are definitely intersections of the two, we decided it was appropriate to allow the CVSF community to be able to support Beth's efforts as well. After all, isn't that what our agriculture is all about?