Hi! I’m Elizabeth Anderson, a junior Sustainability Studies major at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. This semester, I’m not only interning at the Sanctuary, but I’m also taking a really cool class called “Food, Farms, and Famine”.
In class, we are doing a Troy Community Food Assesment Project: Pilot Study. It’s a fancy name for gathering data, checking out what Troy has to offer in terms of healthy food, and interviewing people who have been working with Troy’s food issues.
Today (September 15th), we went on a field trip to the Troy Farmers Market, Collard City Growers, and the Veggie Mobile. We started out by going to the farmers market, which I go to every week when I’m in Troy, anyways. My classmates and I toured the farmers market, looking at all the wonderful foods available. We bought something for lunch, then gathered at Monument Square to eat it together while discussing our findings.
Then, we walked over to the old Pioneer Food Co-op and heard the sad story of the demise of the co-op, and possible reasons for its failure. We then split up and walked around the surrounding blocks, counting numbers and types of food stores. We met up again and took the 80 bus to the Sanctuary stop.
Next, we toured the area surrounding the Sanctuary, with special focus on Collard City Growers and the Veggie Mobile. We learned about the community and food issues and solutions. It was great to see that community efforts could make such a big impact; the neighborhood seemed so friendly, I was jealous of the kids growing up there.
