Giving Compass' Take:

• Katie Rains shares how Garden-Raised Bounty is working to improve access to healthy food by engaging communities. 

• What are the food needs and resources in your community? How can funders help to build sustainable food systems? 

• Learn more about making healthy food affordable and accessible. 

Katie Rains, Executive Director of Garden-Raised Bounty (GRuB), spoke at the Seattle Food Tank Summit, titled “Growing Food Policy,” held in partnership with the Environmental Working Group, Food Action, GRuB, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Seattle University’s Center for Environmental Justice and Sustainability.

Food Tank recently spoke with her about her work to promote access to fresh, healthy foods.

FOOD TANK: How are you helping to build a better food system?

KATIE RAINS: GRuB’s mission is to grow healthy food, people, and community. Our programs engage people with the natural world — with landscapes like farms and culturally managed landscapes like camas prairies — to embolden them to recognize their place in a larger ecosystem and to inspire them to care more deeply as stewards of the land and as agents in their food choices.  We create access to fresh food for youth and families by providing them with the resources and skills needed to grow their own food, to cook it, to can it, and to share it with people they care about as part of an important cultural exchange. We value diverse life experiences as much as we value biodiversity on the farm, and we believe that practicing the skills that enable people to connect meaningfully across differences is not only good for our food system, but for our community as a whole.

FT: What’s the most pressing issue in food and agriculture that you’d like to see solved?

KR: We have to address the impacts of federally subsidized, calorie-dense, and nutrient-deficient foods that are formulated to be addictive. Everyone deserves delicious treats and has a right to choose how they want to be nourished, but the degree to which folks with finite financial resources are limited in their choices is unjust by any standard.

Read the full interview with Katie Rains on promoting access to healthy foods at Food Tank.