Seeds Are Growing

Over the last few weeks, progress has been made on several projects of the Welcome Center related to increasing food resources. They have been exciting developments and I would like to share them with you.

The Community Garden Project has gotten off to a great start. Twenty-five families have now received their plots out at Our Savior's Lutheran Church, and are excited to get their gardens going. Some bring a great deal of experience and others are novices at this, but all beam as they speak of their plans. The plots have been tilled, but the rest of the work is theirs. Through generous donations from Donahue's Green House, Farmers Seed, and the Faribault Garden Center, we were able to distribute some starter plants and seeds. There will be a lot of tomatoes and chili peppers produced before this is over! Extension has been a great help in getting us on the right path, with help from Judy Keogh and Bettylou Ahlman. A second plot has been tilled by parishioners of Christ Lutheran Church, and is the next spot we will fill. Advice about rabbits and deer has also been useful, as we will try to prevent an early lunch...

All along, one of the accompanying aspects of the garden has been the exchange it will promote between participating families and cultures. Already the spirit seems good. We have heard some interesting stories from a similar project in Rochester...how the Hmong women will often garden for hours from a squatting position with no more than a simple handtool and how certain cultures celebrate that first watermelon with an almost ceremonial parting of the melon by the father who distributes it to his family. We are sure that we will all have a chance to learn more about one another as we join in a common task.

A second development has been with our application to become a member of the Channel One Food Bank. Thursday we received word that we have been approved and can now place our first order next Monday. This is an important step in allowing us to access food resources for the community, complementing the work already being done by the Faribault Food Shelf. We hope to be able to provide another resource for emergency food needs and to try to bring in more food to meet the cultural needs of our communities. Funds can go further when we can find food for 18 cents a pound! We will work hard to focus on staple items that are useful to those we serve.

We invite all of you to stop in at the gardens to visit sometime, whenever you find someone out tending their garden. We will all find ways to communicate! We will continue to update you on the progress and more pictures will be added as the garden''s grow.

Bob

Welcome Center
24 W. Division St., Ste B
Faribault, MN 55021
507-333-5036
FAX 507-333-5037

Conference on Southeast Asian Americans

Conference on Southeast Asian Americans to be held at Carleton, May 12.


Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, is pleased to host the
Conference on Southeast Asian Americans on May 12, 2007. Featuring
multi-disciplinary research presentations by undergraduate students on the
Hmong, Vietnamese, and Cambodian experience in America, this conference is
the first of its kind. The student speakers will represent several
Minnesota and Wisconsin schools, including Carleton, Saint Olaf,
Macalester, University of Minnesota- Twin Cities, and the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. In addition, students are coming from several west and
east coast universities to present their research, including Stanford, the
University of California-Los Angeles, University of California-Irvine,
University of California-Santa Cruz, and University of
Massachusetts-Boston. For a list of paper titles and panels see the
conference website:
http://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/posc/Conf_SE_Asian_Amer/

Three prominent scholars in Hmong studies will offer commentary on the
student papers: including Professor Yang Dao, Professor Gary Yia Lee, and
Professor Kou Yang. The keynote speakers: Professor Mai Na Lee, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and Ms. Hai Binh Nguyen, Asian Pacific Environmental Network in Oakland, CAlifornia.

In addition, Penh Lo of Minnesota State University atMankato will deliver a talk on ethnic minority groups in Laos duringlunchtime (Great Hall, Severance Hall). The Honorable Mee Moua, Minnesota State Senator will give a dinner lecture at 6 p.m. (Great Hall, Severance hall) All events are free and open to the public (excluding meals, which are open to the public but require advance reservation and payment in advance or at the door). Conferences essions will be held in Leighton Hall from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on May 12, Saturday.

There will be a special evening performance by Tou Ger Xiong (Carleton
B.A., 1996), rapper and comedian, in Concert Hall from 8-10 p.m. The band Watching Leona will perform after the Tou Ger Xiong performance.

For more information and to register, contact Carolyn Wong at
cwong@carleton.edu or 507-646-4680.