Approximately half of North
Carolina counties make ˝ the national median income and many of those county’s residents
make use of food banks, soup kitchens, food pantries, and mobile soup
kitchens. Meanwhile land owning farmers
who seem to have a lot of assets, are in the same boat as poor families whom
hunger agencies serve. Farmers may have
valuable assets, but because of declining prices, excessive debt loads,
increases in property taxes, loss of income from tobacco, development pressures
on farming operations, the need to accept an alternative farming paradigm, and
transfer of farms to a younger generation of farmers who aren't interested in
working for minimal wages, they are in fact poor.
Various
financial mechanisms exist, such as buying clubs and revolving loan funds, to
facilitate complex purchases for congregations who desire to help poor local
farms while supporting those who are most in need of food. Congregation
Supported Agriculture (CoSA) is a prototype of such a mechanism for
local/regional inter-faith communities to participate in Community Supported
Agriculture (CSA) - a direct contract relationship with farm community members
- while also supporting those who are most in need of food.
CoSA is conceived for Food-Faith-Farms stakeholders and for
community sustainable development by the Leaflight, Inc. We envision
CoSA as developing into a full-fledged Food-Faith-Farms international program
over many years to come. We seek
persons of high moral and ethical standards to work alongside churches,
temples, synagogues, and mosques; engage multi-faith issues concerning charity,
giving, poverty, hunger and ecology.
Doctorate or Masters of Divinity preferred. Knowledge about community food systems and experience with
farming and hunger relief is desired.
Applicants may also further expand existing Food-Faith-Farms projects
such as North Carolina Farmers’ Markets and Food Stamp Program.
Interested persons kindly please submit
your resume with cover letter, or request additional information about the
position by email to Robert Andrew Smith,
Click to email me by fax 702 995 8861 or by phone 919 619 8119
The
Leaflight is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
WOMEN AND MINORITIES ARE
ENCOURAGED TO APPLY