I received a message in my inbox on Friday letting me know that, after 18 years of operation, June 6th will be the final day of programming for Local Matters. The organization’s recent financial problems have been reported on the Simply Living Blog and in the Community News. I have been hoping the organization would be able to weather the storm and survive. But that is not the case. The central Ohio community has lost an important resource.
Local Matters has been a private non-profit organization dedicated to creating healthier communities through food education, access, and advocacy. It has addressed the issues of food insecurity by providing cooking & nutrition classes, operating the Veggie Van for fresh produce, managing Columbus Food Rescue to reduce food waste, and advocating for a comprehensive approach to food justice.
When Noreen Warnock & Michael Jones founded Local Matters in 2008, they opened the door for both children and adults to have hands-on opportunities to get to know their food. Over the years, its educators & staff have worked with everyone who wanted to be better nourished by the food they ate. They taught where food comes from, how to prepare meals in new and exciting ways, and how to live a more nutritious life.
I am including one paragraph from the message I received from Local Matters that is especially poignant:
“We wish that we were shutting our doors because there was no longer a need for our services in the community, but food insecurity has not been solved. There has been and there will continue to be a critical need for a radical transformation of the way that everyone is fed in our world. Make no mistake: the issue of food insecurity is systemic. There are people going without basic needs and there are plenty of resources available to meet those needs. There is a lack of institutional will to ensure that people are fed, housed, and supported, and the priorities of those with the means and power to solve those problems do not align with the needs of the average person. Until major changes happen, the rest of us will pick up the slack.”
Local Matters will begin sunsetting full operations shortly after that last day of programming on June 6th and is working to find ways to provide continuity of programming under other organizations. Organizations that have the capacity for or interest in carrying out any component of Local Matters’ critical food access, education, and advocacy work are encouraged to reach out to media contact Tom Miller, Local Matters Communications and Advocacy Manager, at tmiller@local-matters.org.
