ESSENTIAL FOOD & MEDICINE
EFAM
essential.food.medicine@gmail.com
IG @essential.fam
gf.me/u/xw8xiw
415.845.9296 Ashel
415.410.1784 Xochitl
MISSION
To redistribute essential foods and medicines providing the basic building blocks of health.
We are committed to reclaim surplus and locally grown produce to make juice, soups and natural medicines that directly serve the most vulnerable people in our communities for free. This provides an opportunity for those who have the means to support thier own health while building the health and wellbeing of our unhoused neighbors, frontline workers, elderly, undocumented, formerly incarcerated and the immune and mobility compromised.
VISION
Building individual & communal immunity by providing access to essential foods and medicines for all.
Background: The Issues
These rapidly changing times of COVID 19 has further exposed the underlying ecological, economic and health imbalances of our world . This moment is the great equalizer.
Our neighborhoods and our bodies have weathered a climate of fear and uncertainty.
Unhoused peoples have less access to food medicine or sanitation due to a loss of existing and already limited community programs.
Farmers and Distributors have surplus food and rotting produce because of the lack of demand due to unemployment and a failing economy.
Frontline and Essential Workers are putting their health and that of their families on the line everyday with little to no protection and care for their wellbeing.
Elderly people are at the highest risk for isolation.
Undocumented communites have been persecuted and left in the shodows unable to access the social servies avaible toeverday citizes.
Formerly Incarcerated people are being released in large numbers into a community in crises, with little or no safety net, due to the grievous health risks they face in overcrowded prisons.
Immune & Mobility Compromised & those with pre existing conditions are at higher risk.
Individuals are experiencing depression and anxiety due to Shelter-in-Place, even those who have resources.
Resources and Energy are redirected at this moment to address these needs in critical times.
THE MODEL
There are many examples throughout history of the creativity and resilience within humanity to overcome crises. The energy of these crises, if utilized positively, has and can result in deep learnings and paradigm shifts.
Victory gardens were a response to reduce pressure on the public food and medicine supply brought on by The Great Depression and the World Wars. Fruit, vegetable, and herb gardens were planted at private residences and public parks around the world. They shifted peoples reliance on existing systems and empowered them to provide for themselves and their community. Likewise, EFAM, is a vehicle to redirect resources and socialize health.
The Black Panthers Free Breakfast provided free meals to the black, brown, and oppressed people in cities across the U.S. The Panthers took responsibility for the health of their communities amidst racial and economic disparities. We are now reviving that work in the same neighborhoods that birthed these movements.
WHO WE ARE
We are a collective of community organizers, activists, local farmers, gardeners, health workers, nutritionists , culinary artists, herbalists, healers committed to bring essential food and medicines to all.
Our movement includes not only those folks bringing direct services to the frontlines of this crisis but also all those at home sheltering in place.
WHO WE SERVE
Our foods and medicines directly serve our unhoused neighbors, frontline and essential workers, the elderly, the undocumented, formerly incarcerated and the immune and mobility compromised and You.
WHAT WE DO
I. Juice, Soups & Smoothies
Food is medicine. We transform surplus from local farmers and distributors into healthy, balanced nutrition.
II. Medicines
Herbalists work together with community gardens, natural medicine makers and apothecaries providing teas, tinctures, salves and sanitation that meet our health needs and nourish our spirit.
III. Compost
Healthy soil creates food and medicines. We close the loop and eradicate waste by cycling our pulp and food scraps. It goes directly back to our partner growers and farmers and local community inspired to grow their own food
OUR PARTNERS
SOS Juice, Earth Amplified, Deep Green Healing
ECAP Emeryville Citizens Assistance Program, Canticle Farms, Happy Boy farms, Phat Beets, Nor Cal Resilience Network, North Oakland Restorative Justice Council, COLORS Kitchen, RESTORE Oakland, Planting Justice
OUR COLLABORATORS
SOL Superfood, Ancestral Apothecary, Soulfower Farms, Spiral Gardens
ALLIANCES
Healing Clinic Collective, Homefulness, Dhyana Center, Urban Tilth, People's Community Medics, Punks with Lunch, Gill Tract Farm, KPFA Radio Pacifica 94.1, Essential Deliveries, Bay Area We Got You
OUR GOALS
Restore ecological balance, equity and the health of our world, our bodies, minds and spirits.
Create community health and wealth.
Create access to the nourishment that the body needs to heal itself.
SHIFTING THE NARRATIVE STORYTELLING
While a culture of fear has gone viral we at EFAM are using this as an opportunity to build our collective resilience and individual immunity.
Given the immense loss and shock our world is currently experiencing we offer a way to provide health and wellbeing to oneself and others.
FUNDING
Our nonprofit for profit model allows for us to provide essential food and medicines for free by making available a portion of what we make to the public for a suggested donation.
We are also partnering with local alliances that are sourcing funding and grants for growing community resilience networks.
We are currently seeking the right nonprofit fiscal sponsor.
Our grassroots crowdfunding campaign allows us to immediately sustain the important work we are doing. Invest in what you want to see grow. Pay it forward.
VOLUNTEERS
This work is made possible by a committed team who devote their personal time and resources to make this vision a reality.
We collaborate with delivery drivers, community health specialists, medicine makers, culinary artists, farmers and growers, in addition to web developers, graphic designers, media makers and digital influencers.
NEEDS
Commercial kitchen space, compostable food packaging and utensils, bulk herbs, bottles and jars, delivery drivers, digital media support.
YOU...
We cannot sanitize our way out of this crisis.
We cannot let the power in our communities spoil, waiting for our fate to be decided and delivered.
We cannot watch enough news to inform us or netflix to distract us.
We cannot Zoom through societal cracks or distance ourselves from our need for connection and purpose.
We can bolster our immunity and confidence in our allyship with nature.
We can strengthen the web of relationships in our community that are basic to our collective wellbeing
We can feed ourselves and restore our economy
We can heal ourselves and bring ecology into balance
Whether you are isolated at home or on the frontlines, our health is one thing we all cherish. Lets nourish each other.