BAY AREA-BASED SEEDS OF HOPE PROJECT IS SUCCESSFUL MODEL FOR HOME GROWN FOOD SECURITY AND STABILITY

San Francisco Bay Area is home to One World Institute and San Francisco Cosmopolitan Lions Club successfully changing family lives by addressing food shortages.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, UNITED STATES, July 1, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The San Francisco Bay Area is home to two organizations quietly changing the lives of more than 170,000 gardeners and their families as they address the food shortage made worse by the pandemic. One World Institute and the San Francisco Cosmopolitan Lions Club have partnered for Seeds of Hope.

This model project has mushroomed from serving 19,000 organic gardeners in June 2021 to more than 175,000 in June 2022, and is on track to help ensure food viability for communities across the Philippines.

The Seeds of Hope Project began when One World Institute (OWI) Founder Yolanda Ortega Stern saw the urgent need to avoid food insecurity in communities throughout the Philippines. She enlisted Tess Martin of the San Francisco Cosmopolitan Lions Club (SFCLC) to organize the distribution of viable organic seeds and necessary gardening training to its thousands of budding community gardeners in towns and remote areas around the country.

In little more than one year, the Seeds of Hope project has proven to be a successful model for home grown food security and stability. Started in response to inconsistent access and scarce availability of healthy vegetables throughout the Philippines, this Hunger project promotes organic gardening and seed production in home gardens.

“No one has to be hungry if we can plant. We need to encourage more to start gardening or planting in every little space we can,” Lion Tess Martin says.

Under Club President Gary Mingle, San Francisco Cosmopolitan Lions Club members rallied to raise funds, while local agriculturalists trained gardeners on organic gardening practices, fertilizer creation, and seed collection.

Many of the home gardeners gain education and share about the fruits of their labors in the Facebook Group, Gardening for Food in the Philippines. Periodic contests keep them engaged throughout the seasons.

Harvests have been more than sufficient to feed the families and their communities. Some gardening members now sell their produce or seeds, further creating economic empowerment through entrepreneurship.

“The need for cash has changed, now that gardeners are able to sell their vegetables and seeds,” said Lion Tess Martin. This is “Empowering, self-sufficient, a positive project. They’re raising their own food, and having fun doing it.”

In May 2022, SFCLC showcased the Seeds of Hope project in the Lions District 4-C4 Short Film Festival, and received 1st Prize in the Hunger Division for the project's video created by Lion Mario Sanny Leviste (see https://youtu.be/Zi9Y7kYkwRo ).

Lion Tess Martin explains, “Our #1 group’s purpose is to encourage people to plant their own food to combat food shortage. Our second but also most important purpose is to teach everyone to plant organically to save our one and only body and one and only earth. The 3rd and just as important is seed banking! Save your seeds.”

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Baylan Megino
San Francisco Cosmopolitan Lions Club
510-463-4615
info@sfclc.org
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Seeds of Hope for Gardening for Food in the Philippines, a Food Security Project by One World Institute and the San Francisco Cosmopolitan Lions Club

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