ReGeneration – which started its pilot phase at ten New York City schools for the 2010-2011 school year – works with kids to build gardens, share stories, and ultimately inspire entire communities to change the way we relate to our food. The children are empowered with gardening supplies and cameras to share their story.

With help from Leave It Better’s directors, producers, and outreach coordinators, students learn the art of storytelling and cinematography while tilling their own school gardens … and everyone grows.

The project’s KickStarter site looks to earn $27,000 and reports that the project will not be funded if they cannot gather enought pledges by Tuesday, June 14 at noon EST.

Where does the money go? “We’re aiming to raise enough money to provide more gardens and more cameras to more students, allowing us to expand the scope, audience, and impact for our story when we begin production next school year.”

Watch the documentary preview on the website (too cute) to learn more about the innovative project, fundraising effort, and media campaign. All could inform your Campus Kitchens decisions. And you just might find this project impossible not to support.

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It’s not uncommon to see trucks on the farm, but a farm in a truck?

This spring and summer, DC Central Kitchen local foods staff join a fleet of 25 truck farms, bringing an edible exhibit to urban schools and teaching the roots of healthy eating.

The truck farm team (@DCTruckFarm) at DC Central Kitchen led by the Local Food Procurement Coordinator (@localgrl) and The Campus Kitchens Project’s own Community Development Coordinator (@redheadgardener) received amazing support, raising nearly $5000 to start their farm and receiving a donated truck thanks to Goodwill and National Charity Services.

We’ll follow them as they sow their first seeds, but first, their fellow truck farmers in other parts of the country need a place to bed their soil.

Truck Farm organizers say they are looking for donated trucks in eight states. Are you from one of these states or do you know someone who can help promote the search?

• St. Louis
• Rhode Island
  
• Miami
• Austin
• Phoenix
• Virginia
• Tennessee
• Hawaii

Please contact natalie.rachel.morris [AT gmail DOT com] with any and all ideas.

There are also ways for individual Campus Kitchens to get the community involved in the truck farm movement. In addition to showing the film at The Campus Kitchens Project annual conference in October, Truck Farm organizers are running their second annual school garden contest, and they invite you to participate.

The challenge: work with a partner at a school to plant seeds in the most creative place you can think of. Past winners grew plants in anything from lunchboxes to disco balls and bikes.

To participate in the contest, just email a picture of your group and your farm to contest@truck-farm.com by June 1st.

See more details on the flier below.

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Congratulations to students from the Campus Kitchen at Gettysburg College for pulling from behind and raising a total of $3,752.44 to help the student-led hunger fight in their community.

The Campus Kitchen at Gettysburg College followed an innovative game-plan to earn the Tournament Champs title. They focused their online fundraising efforts on a new program: The Fair Share Project. The project uses donated CSA shares from local farms to earn money for providing fresh produce in Campus Kitchen meals. The extra money earned for March Matchness will supplement the amount of fresh produce the Campus Kitchen can provide.

Supporters of the Campus Kitchen at Gettysburg College also used social media to rise to the number one March Matchness slot. They reached out to the admin of their Gettysburg College Facebook Page, and saw their Firstgiving fundraising page tweeted on the Gettysburg College account. Both appeals to a larger audience immediately spurred the Gettysburg community to support their college and show their university’s ability to give back.

What were some of your successes or obstacles in our first ever March Matchness campaign? Share your advice below.

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As Campus Kitchens across the nation close out their final day of March Matchness fundraising with the final game of the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, the Campus Kitchen at University of Nebraska Kearney received a donation from a very different kind of sporting team: Tri-City Storm hockey.

The donation of just over $2000 will help the Campus Kitchen to provide two weekly meals instead of just one to their clients, which range in age from nine month to 98 years.

Volunteers who participate with the Campus Kitchen program deliver individual meals to senior citizens and low-income families in the Kearney area. Students stay awhile to mentor, tutor, provide nutrition information, or spend quality time with homebound seniors.

The hockey team raised money for the Campus Kitchen through its Jerseys for a Cause program, which sells raffle tickets to fans for a chance to win game-worn jerseys from their favorite players. All the proceeds from the six home games this February went to the Campus Kitchen

“The core people who support the donations are the fans and the teams, who dig into their pockets and contribute,” said Storm President Greg Shea. “Campus Kitchen generates goodwill in the community, which is something our organization also tries to be engaged in.”

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It's Still Anyone's Game - Image by © Ellen H. Wallop/CORBIS

Up until the final seconds before the buzzer, Campus Kitchens kept up the intensity and netted over $8000 collectively in the Round One of the inaugural March Matchness fundraising competition.

The Campus Kitchens Project national office jump-started March Matchness to coincide with the start of the collegiate basketball frenzy, March Madness. Now that the NCAA tournament teams are whittled down to the Final Four, we present to you the “Sweet Six Teams” participating in Round Two and eligible to win the first-ever CKP March Matchness title.

1. Gettysburg College
2. Northwestern University
3. Johns Hopkins University
4. University of Florida
5. Gonzaga University
6. University of Virginia

Help your favorite campus keep up the momentum and continue to earn money for successful operation of its kitchen by donating, promoting, or clicking “Like” on their Firstgiving fundraising pages until April 4.

Round Two will run until 5 p.m. in whatever time zone each Campus Kitchen is in, at which time the national office will announce the winner, who earns an additional ten percent of the funds they raised. They’ll also earn a special award and, of course, school pride.

Our collective goal for Round Two: $15,000.

Did your Campus Kitchen get cut from the Sweet Six Teams to be eligible for the win? We’ll leave your fundraising pages open so you can continue to earn money for your Campus Kitchen. That way, everybody wins.

To the Campus Kitchens still in the game -  keep on sinking those shots. We’re rooting for you.

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Andersedin/Flickr

March Matchness Tournament Update

As teams clenched the Sweet Sixteen tournament spots (at CKP, Marquette and Florida are still in the game) and others threw in their towels this weekend, competition between Campus Kitchens for March Matchness fundraising started heating up the virtual backboard with campuses competing for top fundraising dollars and Facebook Likes.

All 14 campuses participating still have until 5 p.m. EST on March 25 to secure one of the “Final Four” spots. The top three fundraisers and top Facebook Likes for fundraising pages will move on to compete in Round 2, which will go until 5 p.m. EST April 4.

The top fundraiser gets 10 percent of funds raised from the national office, but more importantly, school pride as the inaugural March Matchness tournament winner.

Where do our Campus Kitchens stand?

In the lead for top fundraisers (we’ll take the top three):

1. Johns Hopkins University
2. Gonzaga University
3. University of Florida
4. Kent State University
5. University of Vermont

In the lead for Facebook Likes on their fundraising page (We’ll take the top Likes from a kitchen not in the top three fundraisers)

1. Gonzaga University (193)

2. University of Florida (192)

3. University of Virginia (67)

4. Kent State University (22)

5. Marquette University (15)

Our total raised so far: $3,592 – 72% of our goal!

Visit our Event Page often or follow us on Twitter for updates as Campus Kitchens keep upping their scores.

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Next week CKP will take the court with a competitive fundraising event, and all Campus Kitchens are invited to play.

As top collegiate teams anticipate Selection Sunday, Campus Kitchens across the nation will set up individual fundraising pages to compete in March Matchness beginning March 15. Their goal when the buzzer goes off March 25: top the others in dollars raised (we’ll choose 3 kitchens) or fundraising page Facebook Likes (we’ll take one) to make it to the Final Four.

The Final Four will continue their fundraising drive until April 4, when the final tip-offs start the games that decide the new NCAA champs. The Campus Kitchens Project national staff will then reward the top Campus Kitchen fundraiser with an additional 10 percent of the cash they raised to go toward feeding the hungry in their communities.

The best part: in this game, everybody is a winner. Putting aside some minimal fees for use of the tool and operation of the event, Campus Kitchens will receive a check in the mail from their fundraising efforts.

What are Campus Kitchens raising money for? Most are raising money for travel – and not the kind that gets the ball turned over during the game. With gas prices on the rise, student volunteers must now pay a national average of $3.52 per gallon to get meals dropped off to partner agencies. With Campus Kitchens collectively serving 220 partners, that’s $774 per week or $40,268 every year spent on gas by Campus Kitchens.

Ready to suit up for the game?

Start by signing the Firstgiving Memorandum of Understanding and returning it to your Campus Kitchen Program manager.

In the meantime, print, read, and distribute this flier to your Campus Kitchen Leadership team.

Next, read the official March Matchness Rules.

Now you’re ready to get your Campus Kitchen Firstgiving page setup.

Start at the Event Page.

Copy and paste text from this March Matchness sample page.

Spice up your page with these suggestions.

Not associated with a Campus Kitchen yet? You too can get in the game. Check the event page to see who is raising money March 15 and donate to your favorite kitchen.

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The findings may be shocking. The study broke down the food dollar into three different series. The first of which looked at the amount of money spent on farming and how much is spent on marketing including transportation.

Only 15.8 cents go to the farms while the remaining 84.2 cents are spent on marketing. Only 15.8 cents are spent on growing the food while the remaining 84.2 cents are spent just getting the food to the store and into our homes. The study found an increase in the cost of marketing to consumers.

The second was that the USDA broke down the dollar was by specific industry. The infographic above shows the breakdown into the 10 different industries including agribusiness, packaging, transportation and food service.

Toban Black/flickr

Food processing costs 18.6 cents per dollar.  Packaging and transportation make up another 7.5 cents. . In this breakdown the biggest increase is seen in the consumption of energy. This says a lot about what we are eating. It shows that we are not eating locally and that many of the items we consume are processed.

The third breakdown shows the dollar split into imports, output taxes, property income and salaries and benefits.  The trend here is that more money is also going to imports and output taxes and less to salaries and benefits. As more people spend more money eating less a smaller proportion of that money goes to the farmers

Read the whole report and take a look at the data to see a break down of our food system and how our money is spent.  How would these numbers change if everyone bought locally grown unprocessed foods bought directly from the farmers?

Want to donate $1 to the Campus Kitchens Project?

Help us out today, March 2, and donate $1 through Philanthroper.com

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The Campus Kitchen at St. Louis University serves healthy meals to clients of all ages every week.

But when the Campus Kitchen lost a client in his 40s to a heart attack last year, the purpose of their annual Valentine’s Day event, Heart and Soul, took on new meaning.

This year students set up their own fundraising page to pay for heart-healthy soul food meals they will distribute to 300 individuals during the week of Valentine’s Day.

Soul food is a favorite among clients in the St. Louis University area. Students use a day usually centered around chocolate and sweets to make soul food healthier, while adding a personal touch with recipes and cards.

What does it take to pull this event off? $5 per meal. Take a moment to view the Campus Kitchen at St. Louis University’s Heart and Soul fundraising page and help out by providing the cost of a meal. Read more on The Campus Kitchens Project website.

The Campus Kitchen at Gonzaga University will also serve a version of Heart and Soul with heart-healthy snacks for youth. Visit the fundraising page to learn more.

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Though the gray Mid-Atlantic day brought the event indoors, Sigma Chi’s 4th Annual Chili Cook Off was full of colorful entries.

The  fraternity brothers brought together more than 15 teams to participate in this competition and more than 200 students and staff came through to enjoy. All proceeds from the event went to support the Campus Kitchen at Gettysburg College.

The makers of the Campus Kitchen’s chili entry were a little nervous because this was their first time delving into the great wide world of chili. They had nothing to worry about, though, as their flavors were rich and everyone lined up to enjoy. Next to the Campus Kitchen crock pot was a delicious “Indian Chili” filled with cumin, coriander, curry leaves and all of the other great spices that make Indian cuisine so tasty. The flavors and the consistency were very similar to the classic Dal Makhani.

The “Meat Lovers” entry ran out in the first 1/2 hour. “Trail of Tears” was extra spicy and was accompanied by a delicious tomatillo salsa. “Eat Me,” the day’s winner, featured an awesome mix of chicken, beans and other special ingredients (like “love”) that made it such a favorite. Of course, the avocado and onion condiment sweetened the deal. The honorable mention went to “Down on the farm,” which mixed cow, chicken and goat meat!

The rainy day set the perfect stage for chili enjoyment and everyone who decided to buy a $5 all-you-can-eat bowl was happy with that choice. Best of all, the event raised more than $1500 to support the operations of the Campus Kitchen at  Gettysburg College! Sounds like a sweet deal.

If you are interested in running a similar program at your school, don’t hesitate to contact the CKP national office or the Campus Kitchen at Gettysburg College.

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