Judging by the audience reaction and generosity at yesterday’s benefit dinner to launch the Farmer-Veteran Coalition, the concept and mission of FVC is a hit.
Close to 100 people – including veteran-farmers representing age groups from 20s through 60s, Gold Star mothers of vets killed in action, active farmers, activists and just plain peo
ple who want to support young veterans looking for meaningful work – socialized, ate good food and listened to inspiring speakers at the French Garden restaurant in Sebastopol, California. All of the vegetables served for the five-course gourmet dinner were grown on the restaurant’s farm, which is managed by Matt Mccue, an Iraq War veteran.
[Image: Michael O'Gorman opens the event at the French Garden]
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat published a related story today about the cause of FVC, quoting Mccue and our visionary spokesperson, Michael O’Gorman.
The idea, said O’Gorman, is that farms can provide both employment and healing for war veterans. And it cuts both ways, he said, because American agriculture — with five times as many farmers over age 65 as under 35 — needs young blood.
New farmers are needed not only to invigorate the industry, but also to propel the “green farming” movement toward more wholesome, fresh, locally grown foods, O’Gorman said last week on a visit to French Garden Farm.
We’ll soon be posting and pointing to video footage of the speakers, including O’Gorman, veteran-farmer and poet Shepherd Bliss, Gold Star mother and Veterans’ Village founder Nadia McCaffrey, Mccue and former president of the National Family Farm Coalition, George Naylor.
Our goals were to inform and excite our audience and to raise funds toward securing a fiscal sponsorship, which will allow FVC to develop its working organization and solicit funding directly. We feel that we succeeded spectacularly on both counts. But there’s plenty left to do.
