Each year, Monadnock Food Co-op organizes the Monadnock Region Earth Festival. Since we can’t gather in-person this year, we’re thrilled to partner with Monadnock International Film Festival (MONIFF) and Monadnock Farm & Community Coalition (MFCC), producers of the Feast On This! Film Festival, to transform our celebration into a virtual film festival for 2021. We hope you’ll join us. The Monadnock Earth Day Film Festival will take place from April 22 - April 24, 2021. This free online event will feature films and host panel discussions to celebrate and cultivate a more resilient world. "Uniting our film festivals into one energizing and impactful event is such a win-win for MFCC and the region,” said Roe-Ann Tasoulas from MFCC. “We're able to offer our community incredibly moving, funny, and thought-provoking documentaries fresh from larger festivals thanks to this collaboration."Curious about our film line-up? Please read on.
Seeding Change Film | Long Trailer (2:45) from Seeding Change on Vimeo.
This film features “triple bottom line” businesses that consider the social, environmental, and financial impacts of their companies addressing some of today’s most challenging issues. This award-winning documentary empowers viewers to be part of the solution by voting with their dollars and supporting the brands and products that align with their environmentally conscious values: seedingchangefilm.com.
First We Eat - Trailer from Suzanne Crocker on Vimeo.
What happens when an ordinary family living just south of the Arctic Circle bans all grocery store food from their house for one year? Add three skeptical teenagers, one reluctant husband, no salt, no caffeine, no sugar, and -40° temperatures. Ultimately the story becomes a celebration of community and the surprising bounty of food that even a tiny community in the far North can provide: firstweeat.ca.
Why we cycle from Nieuw & Verbeterd on Vimeo.
To the Dutch, cycling is as normal as breathing. Take a ride with ordinary cyclists and specialists from a variety of fields. These conversations uncover some obvious but even more hidden effects of cycling on people, societies, and the organization of cities: whywecycle.eu.
The Falconer Trailer from The Falconer on Vimeo.
Meet master falconer Rodney Stotts on a mission to build a bird sanctuary and provide access to nature for his stressed community. This film is a story of second chances: for injured birds of prey, for an abandoned plot of land, for a group of teenagers who have dropped out of high school, and for Rodney himself. The Falconer weaves Rodney's present-day mission with the story of his past, both of which are deeply rooted in issues of social and environmental injustice: thefalconerfilm.com.
Meet 56 fifth graders from Public School 15 in Red Hook, Brooklyn, living in the frontline of the climate crisis. Their actions on plastic pollution morph into extraordinary leadership and scalable victories. With stop-motion animation, heartfelt kid commentary, and interviews of experts and renowned scientists engaged in the most cutting-edge research on the harmful effects of microplastics, this alarming yet charming narrative conveys an urgent message in user-friendly terms: cafeteriaculture.org."MONIFF is thrilled to celebrate Earth Day by bringing the community together through diverse films and thoughtful discussions," said Dee Fitzgerald from MONIFF. This event is free; however, registration is required.
We thank our event sponsors: Franklin Pierce University, Greater Keene and Peterborough Chamber of Commerce, League of Conservation Voters, Monadnock Farm & Community Coalition, Vital Communities, and W.S. Badger Co. Interested in sponsoring this event? Please contact dee@moniff.org. In addition to our film festival, groups from around the region will offer other Earth Day events in April. Stonewall Farm in Keene will host a virtual Earth Day 5K Walk/Run & Bike Tour from April 19 - April 24. The funds raised will Stonewall Farm’s mission of teaching and demonstrating regenerative farming to people of all ages to ensure food security, vibrant communities, and a healthy planet. Details at stonewallfarm.org/events/earth-day. Join the Harris Center for Conservation Education for a Vernal Pool Hike at the Horatio Colony Preserve in Keene on April 21 from 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. Every spring, small depressions in the forest floor come alive, filling with rain, melting snow, and, eventually, salamander and frog eggs. By summer’s end, many of these vernal pools will dry out, revealing little trace of the life they contained in April. Space is limited, so please register at harriscenter.org/events. On April 21, the Franklin Pierce Institute for Climate Action will host a screening of Kiss the Ground, a movie that explores the possibilities of regenerative agriculture. Stay tuned for event details!
Discover More Earth Day Events
While our celebration is virtual, we hope our film festival will inspire you to “unplug” and venture more outdoors, from your backyard to Mount Monadnock and every bit of wonder in between. We also hope to connect you to causes that inspire you to build a more regenerative and inclusive world for all. Most of all, we hope to cultivate … hope.
In early February, The Local Crowd Monadnock, Culinary Journeys, and Food Connects partnered to launch the Monadnock Restaurant Project, a homegrown stimulus program to help give the local restaurant economy the shot in the arm it needs to get through this winter. According to the National Restaurant Association, more than 69,500 individuals worked in restaurant and foodservice jobs in New Hampshire before the pandemic—representing 10% of the state’s total employment. However, more than 200 NH restaurants have permanently closed since last March. The Monadnock Restaurant Project looks to inspire community support for local restaurant owners and their employees to keep these businesses open, and their staff retained. In one month, the project dispersed over 600 gift cards from 25 local restaurants to employers, including C&S Wholesale Grocers, Nanotech, and Savings Bank of Walpole. These businesses shared these gift cards with their staff and asked them to spend the cards quickly, providing an immediate shot in the arm to Keene's local economy this winter. The Keene Sentinel and Monadnock Broadcasting Group also distributed gift cards to community members through contests and giveaways. Organizers are fundraising for the project through The Local Crowd Monadnock's community-based crowdfunding program. Currently, they have raised 82% of their overall goal of $30,000. Culinary Journey's contributed $10,000 to start this project, and eighty-two community supporters have donated an additional $14,500. This crowdfunding campaign continues through March.
Support The Monadnock Restaurant Project
The funds raised will be used to purchase a second round of gift cards from local restaurants and food businesses in the Keene area, businesses not included in phase one of the project. The project also aspires to inspire others to pay it forward to support the local restaurant economy. Businesses such as The Richards Group, Historical Society of Cheshire County, and Northern Lights Cheerleading have launched their own efforts to support the Monadnock Restaurant Project movement. “These cards are not gifts but a call to action,” said Luca Paris, owner of Luca's Mediterranean Café. “We anticipate that community members will spend at least twice the amount of what their gift card is worth, doubling the project’s impact by infusing $60,000 to these cash-strapped businesses. The more we spend locally, the more dollars we reinvest in our local economy!”
Learn more about the Monadnock Restaurant Project
The Historical Society of Cheshire County is conducting a pop-up membership campaign inspired by the Monadnock Restaurant Project. The board and staff of the Historical Society have chipped in to purchase 25 gift cards for local restaurants. On March 19, the gift cards will be given to randomly selected members of the Historical Society. The director of the Historical Society, Alan Rumrill said, “We thought the restaurant gift cards would be a good way to promote membership in the Society and pay it forward by supporting local restaurants who have been there for our organization over the years. We know our members will like to support those local businesses and their employees.” The grand prize will consist of five $20 gift cards at establishments that have participated in the Wyman Tavern Brew Fest, one of the signature fundraising events for the Historical Society: Elm City Brewing Company, Luca’s Mediterranean Café, Machina Kitchen and Art Bar, Prime Roast Coffee Company, and The Stage Restaurant. Additional gift cards for a variety of local restaurants will be given out on March 19.
All members of the Historical Society of Cheshire County will be eligible to win. Moreover, members of the Historical Society are already winners by being part of an organization that helps people “find their place in history.” The Historical Society of Cheshire County has been collecting, preserving, and communicating the history of the Monadnock Region for 94 years. In 2019, the Society’s staff of six employees and about 150 volunteers put on 174 programs that served 13,214 people, 29% of whom were youth and teens. During the pandemic, the Historical Society has continued to deliver local history stories via the internet.
Last year, despite the fact that the Society had to cancel 86 in-person programs due to the pandemic, they were able to offer 76 live programs onsite, offsite, or via Zoom, and they produced 47 additional pre-recorded programs for platforms such as Vimeo and You Tube. In addition, they reached an even larger audience with Monadnock Moments on Monadnock Broadcasting, stories in the Keene Sentinel and the Monadnock Shopper, and a popular series written by Alan F. Rumrill, Viral Stories: Tales for a Pandemic. For more information, or to become a member of the Historical Society of Cheshire County, go to hsccnh.org.
"It could be a really rough few months for our fellow restauranteurs and if we don't do something soon, we could lose some of the businesses on the edge," said Luca Paris, owner of Luca's Mediterranean Café. "We can’t wait for someone else to help us. Eat, drink and build community! Let's do this as a community—quickly and safely." How has our community rallied around this concern? Learn more about three efforts happening in the Monadnock Region.
The Local Crowd Monadnock, Culinary Journeys, and Food Connects partnered to launch The Monadnock Restaurant Project, a homegrown stimulus effort. So far, we have purchased $10,000 in gift cards from various locally owned restaurants in Keene. We then dispersed these gift cards to community members through partnering businesses C&S Wholesale Grocers, Nanotech, and Savings Bank of Walpole. These businesses shared gift cards with their staff with the charge to spend these cards quickly, providing an immediate shot in the arm to Keene's local restaurant economy this winter.
“It’s not a gift but a call to action,” shared Luca. “We anticipate that community members will spend at least twice the amount of what their gift card is worth, doubling the project’s impact by infusing $20,000 to these cash-strapped businesses. The more we spend locally, the more dollars we reinvest in our local economy!”
Want to get in on the effort? Go out and purchase gift cards directly from your favorite locally owned restaurants -- and from some new restaurants you haven’t tried yet. Then, enter our Snacktime Selfie. Snap a photo of your break, lunch, dinner, or anything in between enjoying what you purchased from a local restaurant. Share it on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter with #MonadnockRestaurantProject AND #SnacktimeSelfie hashtags. FIVE lucky winners will receive a $100 gift card to the restaurant of their choice. Entries are due before 11:59 p.m. on February 28. Eat local today and you could win big in March!
We want to hold this up as a creative way to respond to the pandemic and re-energize the local economy. We hope other communities in our region will bring the Monadnock Restaurant Project to their town.
To include more restaurants in this project, we’re raising funds to continue our efforts into March. Please support our crowdfunding campaign today.
Support Our Campaign Today!
Paul Tuller of Dublin dreamed up Community Meals to Go, a community-funded program to feed community members and keep our restaurants strong. Participating restaurants prepare to-go meals that are distributed to individuals and families experiencing food insecurity. Karen Hatcher, Peterborough Community and Economic Development Coordinator, helped launch the program by raising funds over $50,000 to pay restaurants $10 per meal. Volunteers distribute meals on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. (first come, first served) at South Meadow School in Peterborough. Community partners include the Town of Peterborough, Peterborough Fire and Rescue Association, Cornucopia Project, The River Center, Peterborough Food Pantry and Union Congregational Church. “If you’ve been impacted and are struggling and need a meal, come get a meal,” Karen said. “This is really for the community and there’s no judgment. It comes from a place of caring.” For more information and to donate, please visit donorbox.org/peterborough-community-meals-to-go. For questions, email community@peterboroughnh.gov.
You may have seen the colorful domes outside of Granite Roots Brewing in Troy. These heated private domes offer contactless ordering and food delivery. Granite Roots is doing their part to help local food businesses by partnering with Black Fire Farm and Machina Kitchen & ArtBar to host dinners in the brewery’s private domes.
“100% of the food profits are kept by [the partnering businesses],” shared Chris LoDolce, Granite Roots Co-owner. “We don't charge them to be on-site and we have them bring their staff to provide additional work for their team. We have booked out all of our reservations and have a significant waiting list.” (Click here to join their waiting list.)
image credit: Granite Roots Brewery
Chris invites additional restaurants with excess capacity in their kitchens to partner with Granite Roots. Specifically, they’re in search of restaurants to serve Central/South American Fare on Thursdays, gourmet meals on Fridays and BBQ on Sundays. Contact Chris or explore more details here. “Food is at the center of every culture and community throughout history,” said Chris. “We're here to help do all we can to enrich the Monadnock Region's culture and community.” Let’s all do our part to help support locally owned restaurants and our local economy: Eat, drink and build community!
This March, community economist Michael Shuman will return to our region to offer a Local Investment 101 Workshop Series that will teach, inspire and mobilize us to invest more of our dollars locally. The Local Crowd (TLC) Monadnock and Vital Communities will host this online four-session series each Thursday in March from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. Registration for all four workshops is $100 (and partial scholarships are available). Learn more! The series focuses on grassroots investors eager to invest locally, businesses looking for local capital, and policymakers committed to facilitating local investment. “If we could shift even a small amount of that capital from Wall Street to Main Street, our local economies could flourish,” shared Michael. “This series is designed to help community leaders, personally and collectively, achieve this vision by developing practical local investment strategies.” We hope you’ll join us!
Announcing the Monadnock Restaurant Project Snacktime Selfie Contest. Snap a photo of your break, lunch, dinner, or anything in between that you purchased from a local restaurant, upload it to Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter with the #MonadnockRestaurantProject AND #SnacktimeSelfie hashtags. FIVE lucky winners will receive a $100 gift card to the restaurant of their choice! Entries are due by 4/30 at 11:59 pm. Eat local today and you could win big!
Rules:
If you said yes to these questions…THANK YOU! We invite you to submit a proposal to run a crowdfunding campaign with TLC Monadnock.
Learn more
We will accept proposals until 5 p.m. on Friday, March 12, 2021.
While we welcome all for-profits, non-profits and community initiatives to apply, preference will be given to projects that align with their city/town’s master plan and strengthen our Local Living Economy.
This year, we are especially interested in supporting projects that address affordable housing, local food and farms, and equity.
Out of all the applications submitted, we will select one to receive a free crowdfunding video produced by 710 Main Films.
This March, community economist Michael Shuman will return to our region to offer a Local Investment 101 Workshop Series that will teach, inspire and mobilize us to invest more of our dollars locally. If you missed his introductory webinar from October, please feel free to view it on our website today. “Small businesses throughout Vermont and New Hampshire have been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic and related shutdowns, as have the local economies that depend on them,” said Michael. “One readily available solution—one that does not depend on government bureaucracies—is to mobilize grassroots investment. Recent changes in the law (around investment crowdfunding, for example) make it cheaper and easier for nonaccredited investors to put money into local businesses.” The Local Crowd (TLC) Monadnock and Vital Communities will host this online four-session series each Thursday in March from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. Registration for all four workshops is $100 (and partial scholarships are available). A signed copy of Michael’s latest book “Put Your Money Where Your Life Is” and a workbook is included.
Learn more!
“Americans now have about $56 trillion in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, pension funds, and insurance funds—nearly all of it invested in global corporations,” stated Michael. “There are real alternatives [to Wall Street], but few know about or consider them. In fact, you can invest in everything that matters to you. You can put your money into that neighborhood grocery store you love, your little sister’s first house, or your nephew who needs to pay off high-interest student loans.”
Michael will offer us a way to make our community more resilient -- to prepare for future global crises -- and help us move more of our dollars into the businesses we don’t want to live without. The series focuses on grassroots investors eager to invest locally, businesses looking for local capital, and policymakers committed to facilitating local investment. “If we could shift even a small amount of that capital from Wall Street to Main Street, our local economies could flourish,” shared Michael. “This series is designed to help community leaders, personally and collectively, achieve this vision by developing practical local investment strategies.” Michael Shuman, a leading visionary on community economics, serves as Director of Local Economy Programs for Neighborhood Associates Corporation and Adjunct Professor at Bard Business School in New York City. He is also a Senior Researcher for Council Fire and Local Analytics, where he performed economic-development analyses for states, local governments, and businesses around North America. His most recent books include “Put Your Money Where Your Life Is: How to Invest Locally Using Solo 401ks and Self-Directed IRAs”; “The Local Economy Solution: How Innovative, Self-Financing Pollinator Enterprises Can Grow Jobs and Prosperity”; and “Local Dollars, Local Sense: How to Shift Your Money from Wall Street to Main Street.” Learn more at michaelhshuman.com. We hope you’ll join us!
Switching gears now to February 14: This Valentine’s Day, show your “local love” -- love for your sweetie and your whole community -- by purchasing gifts (or gift-making supplies) and meals (or ingredients) at locally owned businesses. Check out TLC Monadnock Mercantile for ideas.
Local Love Ideas
“Talk about a sweetheart gift! If every family in the country shifted $100 of their Valentine’s Day shopping budget to locally owned, independent businesses over $7.8 billion would be directly returned to local communities,” shared our friends at Independent We Stand. Locally owned businesses offer us much to love. They strengthen our local economy, culture and wellbeing. Independent businesses recirculate four times more money in our community than chain stores. Moreover, studies show that most new jobs are created by small businesses -- meaning today’s local Valentines are tomorrow’s jobs. So, show lots of local love this Valentine’s Day, and the love will circle back to you, your loved ones and -- best of all -- your entire community. Downtown Keene retailers will offer a “Love is In the Air” event on Saturday, February 13. Enjoy special deals at participating businesses. Learn more at facebook.com/Keenedowntown/events.
We’ll end with a reminder about our Pay-It-Forward crowdfunding campaign that ends on January 31. Help us recruit and support more crowdfunding campaign teams working to grow affordable housing, farms & local food, and living wage jobs & equity in our region. Contribute $25 or more to our crowdfunding campaign at bit.ly/payitforwardmonadnock. A big thank you to those who have supported our campaign already!
Give Today!
After a year of COVID-19 shutdowns, bankruptcies, deaths, and economic despair, how can we help rebuild our economy and community? By investing in our local economy, catalyzing innovation, and shifting capital to the local entrepreneurs, businesses, and projects, our communities become more sustainable, vibrant, and resilient. How to invest locally is the focus of a series of online events and workshops called Put Your Money Where Your Life Is: Reclaiming Our Local Economy, hosted by Vital Communities and The Local Crowd Monadnock.
February 23, 2021, 5:30-7:30 pm: A free virtual conversation to learn more about local investing from the people already doing it.
Register today!
March 4, 11, 18, 25, 5:30-7:30 pm: A four-session virtual workshop on practical, local investment strategies led by Michael Shuman, community economist and author of "Put Your Money Where Your Life Is."
Find series details at tlcmonadnock.com/investing. Additional sessions focusing on investments in housing, food production, and more are planned for late spring, as well as a session for entrepreneurs seeking local investment opportunities. “When the pandemic recedes, we all will be called upon to take extraordinary steps to revive the local businesses that serve as the foundation of our communities," states Shuman. "One critically important step will be for you and other members of your community to move your investment capital from Wall Street to Main Street.” This series is sponsored by Savings Bank of Walpole, Mascoma Bank, King Arthur Baking Company, Hanover Co-op Foods Stores, Green Energy Options, Green Mountain Economic Development Corporation, Monadnock Food Co-op, The Keene Sentinel, Valley News, Norwich Solar Technology, and LaValley Building Supply.
For more information about sponsoring this series, please contact Jen Risley at jen@thelocalcrowd.com or 603-283-5401.
Thank you to all of our supporters -- you kept The Local Crowd (TLC) Monadnock pedaling 4WARD & higher!
As 2020 draws to a close, The Local Crowd (TLC) Monadnock invites you to Pay-It-Forward. Help us recruit and support more crowdfunding campaign teams working to grow affordable housing, farms & local food, and living wage jobs & equity in our region. Contribute $25 or more to our crowdfunding campaign online today!
Our Pay-It-Forward program empowers us to provide extra resources to campaigns aligned with our 2021 community priorities selected by our community. These priorities represent critical building blocks for our Local Living Economy, an economy that works for all of us. A Local Living Economy improves our quality of life, meets everyone’s basic needs and cultivates engaged citizens.
While TLC Monadnock crowdfunding campaign teams may be rich in social capital, they may need access to additional resources such as business consultants, videographers and marketing tools to ensure their success. We identify each campaign team’s specific needs through a pre-assessment – and, with your support, we will provide extra resources to fill in each team’s most critical gaps. We will also use our Pay-It-Forward funds to match donations for crowdfunding campaigns aligned with our 2021 community priorities.
Since launching TLC Monadnock in 2017, we’ve raised over $230,000 from 2,000 supporters for twenty-six crowdfunding campaigns. Thank you, Monadnock Region! Next year’s goal is to raise at least $100,000 from 1,000 supporters for ten campaigns. You can help lay the groundwork for this future success by supporting our Pay-It-Forward program today.
What types of crowdfunding teams do we hope to recruit and support in 2021? Teams from this year provide inspiring examples for projects we hope to attract next year.
Food Connects raised $10,850 through their TLC Monadnock crowdfunding campaign, Growing Local Food Markets in the Monadnock Region. They partner with local farmers and food producers throughout our region, like Frisky Cow Gelato, Echo Farm Puddings, and Picadilly Farm, and bring their products to schools, grocery stores, hospitals, restaurants and other businesses. The funds raised enabled Food Connects to become an approved vendor allowing them to bring more local food to larger wholesale markets.
“This is the start of something huge for our region,” said Laura Carbonneau, Food Connects Marketing Manager. “When we sell to wholesale customers in our community, more people have access to local food. Our work creates a vibrant food economy with a vision to make local food accessible to all community members.”
Sharing Housing gathered $10,203 through their TLC Monadnock crowdfunding campaign, Teaching Successful Home Sharing. These funds will help Sharing Housing develop an on-demand online course on how to create healthy, happy shared homes.
“Even before the pandemic, many people struggled with housing costs and social isolation,” said Annamarie Pluhar, Shared Housing Founder. “Shared housing is a viable solution many of us overlook when considering where and how to live, despite multiple advantages – social, emotional, and financial.”
Keene Housing Kids Collaborative (KSKC) raised $2,230 during their TLC Monadnock crowdfunding campaign, Helping Kids Access Success. KHKC helps give kids living in Keene Housing households the chance to participate in activities in our community that will help them succeed. They work to ensure that these children, the next generation of workers, parents and community leaders, have a better start in life despite their families’ financial struggles.
“We believe kids, wherever they live, should be part of the community, not apart from the community,” said Liz Chipman, KHKC Executive Director. “That’s why we don’t have centralized programming onsite at Keene Housing properties. Instead, we partner with community organizations that are already providing excellent programming for kids.”
Join our community of Pay-It-Forward supporters. Empower us to grow more affordable housing, farms & local food, and living wage jobs & equity in our region. Thank you so much for your continued support and Happy New Year!
Please support our crowdfunding campaign today!
The Local Crowd Monadnock - Mailing Address: 63 Emerald St. #114, Keene, NH 03431
