BREAKFAST CLUB OF GRAND RAPIDS
Established 1936 – John A. Collins, President
UNIVERSITY CLUB
111 Lyon St. N.W. #1025, 10th Floor of Fifth/Third Bank
WEDNESDAY, January 29, 2020 – 7:15 a.m.
One of the joys of urban living is the occasional trip to rural West Michigan; to purchase veggies, fruit and home-made jams/jellies. Ah, the fresh air (well sometimes) and the escape from big city racing around. Now, the farm scene has come to Grand Rapids and environs in the face of Urban Roots. Co-Executive Director Lesley Yarhouse will tell us that starting in 2013 Urban Roots began to explore how growing food could be used as a transformational tool. They moved into quarters in the Madison Neighborhood near South Field, an area they describe as “one of the most disinvestment parts of the city.” That description might have brought shudders to one well-known South High alum, our own Keith Vandercook, and another not so well known by the name of Ford. The Urban Roots’ community farm, market, and educational center is now a home to a variety of programs from community classes to Farm Field Trips, a fresh market to garden education. Yes, you are encouraged to bring a hoe and a spade. A great program for that nauseous brother-in-law who thinks he knows everything about growing crops. Or, just bring a guest.
Invocator: Mr. Keith D. Vandercook
Introducer: Vincent Schumacher, Esq.
The Farmer: “The farmer will never be happy again;
He carries his heart in his boots;
For either rain is destroying his grain
Or the drought is destroying his roots.”
A. P. Herbert
Paraprosdokian: A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
