OneWorld Spokane - Organic Community Kitchen

www.oneworldspokane.com

I finished up my time in Spokane by volunteering at One World Organic Community Kitchen down on east Sprague in what I was told is the 'Red Light District'. It was a grayish and cool morning as I drove up outside the building. The door was locked so I knocked and was greeted by Savannah who put me right to work washing dishes. As I washed, Savannah told me about One World.

One World believes that by empowering individuals through respectable wages, providing meals without shame, reducing food waste through the encouragement of personal responsibility, enhancing relationships with organic farmers, and creating an atmosphere where people from all socio-economic classes can eat fresh, organic food in-community, attitudes can change. And change in attitudes is on the cutting edge of change everywhere else.

The Vision of One World is:

* Dedication to serving local, organic unprocessed food
* Dedication to eliminating waste in the food industry and giving all members of the community

access to healthy, organic sustainable food
* Belief that we can trust our customers to be inspired, honest and fair in their exchange of

money and/or work for the fresh, organic food we will prepare mindfully and heartfelt each

day

The One World Cafe is a quaint space with high ceilings and interesting art. They not only have their own garden space out back, they also receive donations from community members from their own personal gardens. Some folks also donate meat. Savannah mentioned that one gentleman had been doing some lucky fishing and had dropped off a bunch of trout that they were excited to cook up. Someone had donated A LOT of tomatoes from their garden just before I had arrived. They wanted to give their tomatoes away before the freeze hit and there were tomatoes EVERYWHERE!

Someone had donated a large garbage sack of greens - collard greens maybe?? - so after the dishes were done, I was put to work picking and cleaning leaves.

As I made my way to the bottom of the sack a huge spider decided to crawl out and say hello - Aaaaaahhhh! Savannah and I almost had to ro sham bo to decide who had to take the compost bucket and said spider outside - ew! I did it, but I didn't like it!

Ah...look at the cute little potato pony running through collard green field :) And I digress...

After I finished cleaning the greens, I was put to work chopping sun-dried tomatoes and olives for a pasta salad. If Savannah had known my pension for slicing myself (I've taken a few stitch-worthy trips to the emergency room for accidentally cutting myself) she probably would have given me a different job, BUT I concentrated really hard and managed not to lose any digits - yay me.

As we worked Savannah and I talked about her aspirations for her community. She and her husband are committed to this part of town and would like to see improvements such as parks and trails. I shared my knowledge from working on trail and open space plans for other communities as well as information on possible land aquisition routes like the Trust for Public Land (TPL). Savannah is driven and I hope that others will follow her lead in the gentrification of this neighborhood.

After a few more rounds of dishes and some floor sweeping, I sat down to eat my meal.

As I ate, Steve (a nurse who volunteers twice a week) and Savannah continued to prepare food.

After I said good-bye to Savannah and Steve, I walked outside to take some photos of the One World garden space. The side of the building has been painted with a beautiful mural and a bicycle shop next door has installed some bike sculptures made of brightly painted metal tubing.

The mural works its way down the entire outside wall incorporating the door and other parts of the building.

The One World garden had taken a hit from the freeze the previous night but it was still awesome, full of tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and a lot of other things.

One World was a great place to volunteer. I appreciate their holistic mission and requirement of work in trade for food.I think that this is a better model than food for free. I hope that more and more of Spokane's community will support this business and others like it in this area. This neighborhood's location so near downtown makes it a perfect opportunity for gentrification and rehabiliation. Kudos to Savannah and the owners of One World for their foresight and dedication to the betterment of their community!