Food, it really is everything. Food is social, it’s family, it’s friends, it’s nourishment, it’s a critical part of the circle of life. In today’s modern world, local food systems are considered practically luxury. But food is not a luxury; it’s essential.
A wonderful organization called East End Food is working to change that by connecting local farmers and producers with the community to promote a sustainable and local food system on the East End.
If this sounds like something you’d like to support, and if you love taking a bite out of food that was grown out of the ground just minutes down the road, then you are going to want to buy tickets for “Gather For Good” taking place on August 20th at 6 pm.
The event is organized by Evan Mason & Garrard Beeney, Sheri Sandler, Peter Treiber, Sr.and Mark Smith. Guests will enjoy a locally sourced dinner from the unbelievable chef Michael Rozzi of the 1770 House.
The meal is limited to 50 guests and will take place at a private residence in Sgaponack, with proceeds from the event going towards empowering sustainable farming, strengthening the local economy, and improving community health. Tickets are $1,000 per person for the evening.
The ultimate goal is to build a new hub for East End food off of Main Street in Riverhead to create a centralized location for the many farms in the area to sell their produce before it goes bad to the East End Food Hub, which will create shelf-stable products from the fresh food.
Their commercial kitchen is available to small-scale entrepreneurs who can rent the space to produce their goods and sell them at their year-round indoor market or on the Internet. They have partnered with 15 schools, 7 food pantries, and 3 senior centers to aggregate, process, and distribute local food to thousands of people across the east end to help those in need.
The new community kitchen and farmers market should be completed by March of 2024, with already $1.3M secured by another $3M needed to complete. All of this is being built on donations from the East End community.
Kate Fullam, who has 20 years of experience in nonprofit management and fundraising, is the Executive Director, along with Bob Hatton, who is the Associate Director and brings 15 years of experience. Jay Lippin is the Executive Chef, and Miranda Capriotti is the Outreach Manager.
You can donate directly by visiting campaign.eastenedfood.org.
You can purchase tickets to the exclusive dinner by visiting https://www.paperlesspost.com/go/7BBPrvAcK0eoDFvomB5N or by calling Kate at 631-255-4590
