The Commons has supported Grant County with food security initiatives since 2004 .Scott Brocato talked with The Commons’ executive director Ben Rasmussen about their mission, as well as their upcoming Gala in the Garden event on September 26th.
Scott Brocato:
Can you start by talking about The Commons and its mission?
Ben Rasmussen:
Yeah, absolutely. The Commons is a nonprofit located here in Silver City, New Mexico, in the wild frontier of Grant County. We've been around for over 20 years. Our mission is to improve food security and sustainability in this kind of remote region around us. We do a lot of food distribution. We make sure that no family, no individual goes without food. We do a lot of youth education, community building. We do it all with a lot of joy and enthusiasm for the work.
Scott Brocato:
Talk about the...you have different pantries and programs. Can you go into those specifically?
Ben Rasmussen:
So kind of our flagship distribution is here in Silver City. It's a client choice pantry, so it allows residents and those seeking food to be able to kind of choose the items that they want. And we go through great lengths to make sure that they're able to put together balanced food boxes for that month. We also have distributions out in Cliff Gila. the Mimbres, and the mining district right now; the mining district being Bayard, Santa Clara, Hurley, North Hurley, and other parts of the Mimbres.
And program-wise, we also have a pretty extensive garden and orchard, which we do a lot of education. So that, you know, really hinting at the food sustainability piece of teaching folks how to come together around food, how to produce their own food, how to prepare it. We also have a new form farm, a vermiculture program to break down over 100 pounds of cardboard a month and turn that into soil for our community to use.
We host youth programs. So we did about 800 hours of youth programming this year. So education around life skills, gardens, stone masonry, all sorts of things like that. And we also have a commercial kitchen here that we support food entrepreneurs.
Scott Brocato:
Well, how does the food insecurity issue look currently in Grant County and other areas?
Ben Rasmussen:
Yeah, it's a great question. Southwest New Mexico has long been plagued by really higher than average food insecurity metrics. And higher than average, meaning higher than state averages, state numbers, and much higher than national averages. Grant County ranks pretty high around the state. The rest of southwest New Mexico is up there as well, with Luna County being perhaps one of the most food insecure counties, I think, across the nation. And so try to make sure that nobody goes without nutritious, healthy and dignified food.
Scott Brocato:
Let's talk about the upcoming gala, the 5th annual Gala in the Garden: Under the Harvest Moon event that's coming up on the 26th.
Ben Rasmussen:
Yeah, this is our big annual fundraiser. So as a small community organization, we really put a lot of effort into building organic relationships with our community, and being incredibly responsive to the needs of our community.
And so this is our big fundraiser of the year. We have it, like you said, on the 26th. It's right here in our beautiful gardens in Silver City from 5 to 9 PM. That's our fifth year of doing it. It is really kind of one of the premier events, I think, in Silver City. Folks can come and get an expertly crafted, gourmet, chef-inspired elevated BBQ meal along with drinks from Little Toad Creek. There's going to be some awesome music there. We got a silent auction full of, you know, a lot of art and services and other items that folks can come and check out and bid on.
And also new this year, we also have some great limited-edition artist-inspired merchandise from the Commons. So we have t-shirts from Tepe Arondo, from Nicole Graff, and some from our friends over in the UK, the Folk Union, who provided us with the design. And then we got hats, stickers, and things like that.
Scott Brocato:
What ways can people help out with the Commons in terms of giving, food distribution, etc.?
Ben Rasmussen:
Right now we're trying to raise $65,000 at this gala. We're more than halfway there. So the primary way that people can donate is to go on our website. And so we're currently still seeking sponsorship, so with sponsorship at varying levels, you can check that out on the website. Folks will get tickets to it and know that their money is going to a really good place. You can also just provide a regular donation.
And then we always accept food donations as well. So canned foods, anything shelf-stable that's within the expiry date. We ask for no frozen foods because it's difficult for us to maintain or to verify the cold chain, but also fresh produce from the garden. That's something that we like to distribute as well.
Scott Brocato:
And is there anything else you'd like to discuss or mention that we haven't talked about?
Ben Rasmussen:
Just, I think it's important for people to know that, the work that we do here, addressing food insecurity in such a geographically isolated area, it’s definitely hard work. It's systemic work, it's generational work, and it shouldn't be dull. We do it with a lot of joy, enthusiasm, and it's pretty fun. And so we're hoping folks come down to the gala, purchase tickets, become a sponsor, come check out what the work is all about, what this community is all about. I think it's a really good example of what's possible here at Grant County.
