Posts Tagged ‘arlington food assistance center’

A Benefit for AFAC 12/17/11

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011

If you’re going to be around Ballston this Saturday, 12/17/11,  make sure you check out the Green Drinks Arlington 2nd Annual Art+Wine Bazaar. Our friends Marina Ospina, Sweet Root Village and Genevieve Concannon have put together another great line up for a fun, festive holiday event to benefit the Arlington Food Assistance Center.

Save the date a wonderful holiday event that will inspire you to think about Local and free-trade artists and bring together community at a fun, laid back gallery opening. Art and Wine Bazaar is back.

For the 2nd year in a row, Green Drinks Arlington’s founders, Genevieve Concannon and Marina Ospina along with Sweet Root Village bring you a festive party to engage the community in local art, wine and the spirit of the Season- Giving.

With such a successful event last year, we have added more local artisans and hope to arouse your senses with food, fun and creativity. Shop local artist’s photography, paintings, pottery, glass art, floral design, gift baskets and more while listening to laid back music and sipping wine. Doesn’t that sound better than wresting people for sweaters at the Mall? Yeah, we thought so!

Join us and enjoy music by DJ Walz Street, wine by Matt Carroll and a gallery of unique art by various local and free-trade artists!

2011 Art + Wine Bazaar

Entry: Suggested donation of a canned-good to benefit AFAC, our local area food bank. Our goal is to donate over 500 lbs of food to them.

When: Saturday, December 17, 2011

12-6:00pm

Where: 875 N. Randolph Street. Suite C (Entrance on 9th Street)

Arlington, VA 22203

A bit about the Artists:

Amber Kendrick is an architect and designer.  She applies her understanding of materials, color, design and form to warm glass for both functional and architectural applications. She works in warm glass at her studio at the Workhouse Arts Center.  Amber is the founder of Cloud Terre, LLC. www.cloudterre.com

Sweet Root Village is an inspired community of local artists and designers collaborating to create fabulous events through their inspirational photography and design eye! They specialize in photography, event planning and decor, and floral decor. They also offer videography, makeup artistry, custom music composition, and graphic design services! Four creative souls strong, Sweet Root Village has the capacity to design and implement event planning while focusing on the individual. At the Art+Wine Bazaar, Sweet Root Village will be displaying their photography, booking photo sessions, offering gift certificates for sale, and raffling off a free photography session!
www.sweetrootvillage.com

Margeaux Marshall Denham is an artist and designer from Central Texas. She has mastered the balance of color and texture through her jewelry designs of semi-precious stones and sterling silver. She utilizes the metaphysical properties in the stones to make one of a kind jewelry pieces that truly resonate to their owners.

Tortuga Verde Gift Baskets is the perfect solution for your eco-conscious gift giving needs. Founder and owner, Marina Ospina puts the personal touches that are much needed in a world of depersonalization and gift cards! All of the products chosen for the baskets are organic, environmentally conscious and are available for any occasion. www.tortugaverdegiftbaskets.com

DIAMANTINA designs, manufactures and distributes fashion-forward leather handbags and accessories targeted to stylish men and women in tune with fashion trends, and who are appreciative of avant-garde designs and modern aesthetics. Our collections include a wide variety of exclusive handbags, designer belts and wallets, all showcasing a wide variety of colors and textures. DIAMANTINA was created from the partnership of two good friends who share a passion for fashion and wanted to provide job opportunities to skilled men and women from their home country, Argentina. Behind Diamantina there is the legacy and support of a family-owned Argentine business, which for generations has specialized in producing and exporting genuine leather garments.

Twila Johnson, A teacher, mentor, skilled potter and artistic soul, Twila Johnson makes kiln dried pottery that is gorgeous and functional. Fina out more about Twila’s classes and studio sessions at Manassas Clay. http://www.manassasclay.com/classes.html

Emily Dolenz, principal owner of Emily Dolenz Photography, Emily has had her work displayed all over DC and Northern Virginia, most recently at a gallery opening at Tryst in DC and currently has copies of her work at Northside Social in Clarendon. Emily captures details that not everyone sees and makes them beautiful. Nature, abstract objects and portraiture, Emily has a keen grasp on the artistic elements that make an image pleasing to look at. http://www.emilydolenz.com/#/page/home/

Marsha Lederman is a published professional artist living and working in Arlington where non-profits make up much of her client base.  Marsha is accomplished in the arts of drawing, painting, portraiture and sculpture. A favorite endeavor is drawing people wherever she can ‘capture’ them without being noticed, from meetings to metro. Marsha also enjoys trying to infuse a sense of humor in her work and loves to anthropomorphize, especially animals. http://www.zazzle.com/marlederman

Silent Auction items for Amicus Green Building Center, Live Green EnviroHomeDesign and more will be available to delight you along with $5 wine tickets to benefit AFAC.

Finding Solutions to Hunger in our Community

Wednesday, November 24th, 2010

A recent impactful article in Organic Gardening made a rather interesting parallel that we’ve been hearing about quite a bit lately.

It isn’t enough to say that yes, our economy is in a recession right now, this is something that all of us can understand and has impacted us in one way or another, from underemployment and unemployment to home foreclosures and the cost of living still increasing. Not all of us can fathom the impact of this recession on how it effects our dinner tables.

Food pantries are finding it harder and harder to keep food stocked; Nancy Rutman of the Organic Gardener notes that there has been a 46% rise in the Feeding America clients from 2005-2009, and the numbers continue to increase. Nancy shares that as we get right down to it, we can see a correlation between the number of people utilizing the former Food Stamp program, now called SNAPS, and the number of people who are not only are malnourished. Her eerily composed statement takes a strong stance: “Hunger and overconsumption are simply two faces of malnutrition. We may recognize the first, but fail to recognize the second, since it sometimes take son the paradoxical disguise of obesity.” This is a frightening thought, but with some creativity, there must be away around this double edged sword.

There are potential solutions to the problem of malnutrition within our communities, and they may be much more simple that we expected. She lines out several great ideas about how we as community members can give back to those in need who may very well be our neighbors included in that 46% increase in food assistance clients:

  • Plant a row of produce to harvest yourself and donate to your local food pantry.If you don’t have your own personal garden space, see about getting a plot in a local community garden.
  • Work with your local scouting troups when they are “scouting for food.” Even your local faith based groups may be working on special food drives throughout the year.
  • Work with groups such as Food Forward and Village Harvest to take produce that may be thrown away because it doesn’t meet typical grocery store aesthetic standards to the food pantries.

Founders of the GreenDrinks Arlington eco-professional group have taken charge within their community to host a food drive benefit this season to raise awareness and hopefully some donations for the local Arlington Food Assistance Center, AFAC. The event will bring together local and free-trade artists with unique art gifts for sale. The entry is a suggested donation of a canned good to benefit AFAC. Little things like this can make all of the difference in our community. Have more ideas about what can be done to bring healthy foods to our local community members in need of food assistance? Tell us your thoughts, and come out to see us at the GreenDrinks Arlington Art + Wine Bazaar to give back to Arlington!