In the tradition of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, Minneapolis’ Birchwood Cafe announces the launch of Birchwood Boost, a new initiative to promote and raise funds for local nonprofit organizations and provide opportunities for education, outreach, and volunteer action for staff and community.
“With Birchwood Boost, we hope to create an invitation for more people to participate in solving the deep and interconnected problems currently related to food and food systems,” says Birchwood Cafe owner Tracy Singleton. “This program will be a point of focus for giving at the restaurant and will hopefully activate our community in positive ways.”
Through scheduled events in the restaurant, customers and staff will be able to learn from, connect to, and volunteer with Birchwood Boost partnering nonprofits. Participating organizations will be featured in the restaurant’s social media, newsletters, and in-cafe promotions, and will receive the proceeds of a voluntary point-of-sale donation from customers, as well as host a ticketed Booster Club Dinner in the cafe.
The first Birchwood Boost partner is Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy (http://www.climategen.org), a local nonprofit that works to educate and empower people to engage in solutions to climate change, with a focus on engaging youth. Proceeds will be directed towards their 11th annual Summer Institute for Climate Change Education, to be held June 21-24, 2016 at Macalester College in St. Paul.
“The changes in our climate have affected our farmers and will have a profound impact on how our food comes to us,” notes Singleton. “On the heels of the Paris climate talks and in the midst of our presidential campaign, collaborating with Climate Generation for the Birchwood Boost right now makes a lot of sense.”
“We know the Birchwood sees a healthy food system as a part of the work towards creating solutions to climate change, and we’re looking forward to being part of the Boost program as the first partner,” said Climate Generation’s Executive Director Nicole Rom. “This partnership builds on years of collaboration with Tracy and the Birchwood.”
For two months beginning February 1st Climate Generation will provide Birchwood staff and customers with information and action steps to address climate change during tabling events at the cafe and it will be the recipient of Birchwood’s point-of-sale donations. Climate Generation will also host a a youth lobby training in early March, and a screening of their TPT-produced film, “Minnesota Stories in a Changing Climate,” on Monday, March 28.
After a busy few years that saw a successful Kickstarter campaign, an extensive remodel and reopen, and then a 20th anniversary celebration and a Charlie Award for Chef Marshall Paulsen, Singleton concludes, “Now is the time for Birchwood to look outward and deepen our commitment to building community in an active and intentional way, to “be the change” we want to see and make the world a better place.”
Meet Climate Generation
March 4
March 16
Stop by the front of the cafe to meet and talk with the folks from Climate Generation to learn more about what you can do to#ActOnClimate!
