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September 26.
About 70 (invited) guests from campus and the community attended SEED Wayne's 2nd Annual Harvest Dinner last night.
It was a beautiful Fall day, mild and sunny, which was great for a tour of the campus gardens. The evening started with registration and a gathering at the St. Andrew's Allotment Garden, where guests were given a guided tour of the garden.
Then, student volunteers escorted small groups of guests to the Warrior Demonstration Garden, where they were provided an overview of SEED Wayne's original garden.
A little before 6 PM, all guests were escorted to the Warrior Dining Hall, where they were invited to help themselves to a sumptuous dinner prepared by AVI's executive chef Giulio Fattore, dining hall services manager Dan Kahn, and Warrior Dining Hall manager Deborah Boyle.
Brief trips throughout the day by SEED Wayne director to the Dining Hall to take care of this or another item in preparation for the event found them busily at work kneading and baking the bread (olive and sundried tomato), assembling various items, and putting final touches on other menu items.
Click here for a copy of the menu and sources of ingredients.
The program started a little before 6:30 PM, after all were seated and had a chance to taste their dinner. Kami Pothukuchi welcomed guests and asked AVI staff to take a bow, which they did, to the appreciative applause of attendees.
The program then continued with a presentation by John Coker, executive vice president of AVI Fresh, who discussed AVI's committment to supporting local farmers and the economy with their corporate philosophy of "Think global, buy local," involving students in menu planning, and advancing sustainability through recycling and composting of kitchen and plate wastes.
Malik Yakini, Chair of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network then took the podium on behalf of the organization which was the featured group for the dinner. He talked about the activities undertaken by SEED Wayne and the DBCFSN over the past year, and invited attendees to their Harvest Festival on October 3.
Malik Yakini was followed by CLAS Dean Robert Thomas who stood in for WSU President Jay Noren, who had to cancel his attendance at the event the day before. Dean Thomas applauded SEED Wayne for advancing WSU's committment to excellence in teaching, research and engagement, and thanked SEED Wayne's community partners. Significantly, he asked SEED Wayne's many volunteers to stand and be recognized for their regular, weekly contributions of time and effort which are more demanding than one time service events.
Kami Pothukuchi ended the line up of speakers by providing brief highlights of SEED Wayne's activities over the past year, and recognizing in turn, staff, the event's volunteers, other SEED Wayne volunteers, campus partners, and community partners.
Even though many guests left soon after the close of the formal program, many lingered and continued their conversations in small groups.
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| Below: After the dinner, people continuing informal conversations in small groups |
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