Category: Blog

Thank you Andy J. Egan Company, Inc. for your Harvest Sponsorship of the Walk for Good Food!

We interviewed our Harvester and Grower sponsors to learn more about who they are and why the believe investing in a good food system is important. Thank you to all our sponsors of the Walk for Good Food for their investment in a good food system for all! Please describe your company/organization’s mission and role in our community. For more than a century, Egan has had a hand in constructing some of the most well-known buildings in West Michigan, such as the Amway Grand Plaza, Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, JW Marriott and DeVos Convention Center. You can find our crews […]

Walk for Good Food 2021: SECOM

This post is part of a series of interviews of recipient agencies for the Access of West Michigan 2021 Walk for Good Food. This year, we have 13 in total, each with their own role in creating a thriving Good Food system in West Michigan. Read below to see why Good Food is important to their work, and check out our website at accessofwestmichigan.org/walk to learn more or to walk with us! AWM: how would you describe your organization — what is your mission and what work do you do towards that mission?   SECOM: SECOM is a trusted community […]

Walk for Good Food 2021: UCOM

This post is part of a series of interviews of recipient agencies for the Access of West Michigan 2021 Walk for Good Food. This year, we have 13 in total, each with their own role in creating a thriving Good Food system in West Michigan. Read below to see why Good Food is important to their work, and check out our website at accessofwestmichigan.org/walk to learn more or to walk with us! AWM: how would you describe your organization — what is your mission and what work do you do towards that mission?   UCOM: UCOM’s mission is to provide […]

Walk for Good Food 2021: North End Wellness Coalition

This post is part of a series of interviews of recipient agencies for the Access of West Michigan 2021 Walk for Good Food. This year, we have 13 in total, each with their own role in creating a thriving Good Food system in West Michigan. Read below to see why Good Food is important to their work, and check out our website at accessofwestmichigan.org/walk to learn more or to walk with us! AWM: how would you describe your organization — what is your mission and what work do you do towards that mission?   NEWC: The North End Wellness Coalition […]

Walk for Good Food 2021: St. Mark’s Breakfast Café

This post is part of a series of interviews of recipient agencies for the Access of West Michigan 2021 Walk for Good Food. This year, we have 13 in total, each with their own role in creating a thriving Good Food system in West Michigan. Read below to see why Good Food is important to their work, and check out our website at accessofwestmichigan.org/walk to learn more or to walk with us! AWM: how would you describe your organization — what is your mission and what work do you do towards that mission?   SMBC: We are an inclusive community […]

Walk for Good Food 2021: Westminster Downtown Food Pantry

This post is part of a series of interviews of recipient agencies for the Access of West Michigan 2021 Walk for Good Food. This year, we have 13 in total, each with their own role in creating a thriving Good Food system in West Michigan. Read below to see why Good Food is important to their work, and check out our website at accessofwestmichigan.org/walk to learn more or to walk with us! AWM: how would you describe your organization — what is your mission and what work do you do towards that mission?   WDFP: Through the power of the […]

Walk for Good Food 2021: Kent County Food Policy Council

This post is part of a series of interviews of recipient agencies for the Access of West Michigan 2021 Walk for Good Food. This year, we have 13 in total, each with their own role in creating a thriving Good Food system in West Michigan. Read below to see why Good Food is important to their work, and check out our website at accessofwestmichigan.org/walk to learn more or to walk with us! AWM: how would you describe your organization — what is your mission and what work do you do towards that mission?   KCFPC: The Kent County Food Policy […]

Exploring Fair Food

Like the other tenets, there are specific goals which underlie the effort towards Fair Food. These goals include that the autonomy and humanity of workers all along the food chain are respected and that the food system, generally, be founded on a base of good, fair paying jobs. These goals can be further broken down into things like safe working conditions, consistent communication with and listening to and among workers, and security from threat through wages or a party like I.C.E. Fair Food is unique among the Good Food tenets in that there have been multiple fair food movements over […]

Exploring Healthy Food Work

When it comes to putting our definition of Healthy Food into practice, there is an important thing to keep in mind: while there are some general characteristics that are common to foods we call “healthy” (such as nutrient-rich and low in added fats, sugars, or salts), everyone is going to have a different approach to what food is healthy for them. If you recall, the definition of Healthy Food in the Michigan Good Food Charter is food that, “provides nourishment and enables people to thrive.” In order to thrive, we not only need access to fresh, whole, nutritious foods, but […]

Exploring Green Food Work

While it is difficult to completely separate the different tenets of the Good Food System idea from one another, there are some goals that are specific to each tenet. When we talk about “Green” food, the goals we have in mind often are centered around making a food system that works with, rather than against, an area’s indigenous ecosystem. As we mentioned before, a food system that looks like this would not be a new invention – people across the world and across time have done this, and this is still practiced by many Indigenous American communities today.  Throughout Michigan’s history and especially within […]