PRESS RELEASE
June 1, 2006

Contacts:
Melissa Dimond     The Food Project-North Shore   Phone: 781-346-6726    Fax: 781-346-6727    Email: mdimond@thefoodproject.org www.thefoodproject.org	Caroline Donnelly Richardson The Trustees of Reservations Phone:  978-921-1944 x4016 Fax:  978-921-1948 Email:  crichardson@ttor.org  www.thetrustees.org

The Food Project Farm Kick-Off
Thursday June 15  |  4:00 PM
Long Hill, 572 Essex St. Beverly, MA

Beverly, Massachusetts— The Food Project and The Trustees of Reservations will celebrate a unique partnership and the opening of The Food Project Farm at Long Hill , 572 Essex Street in Beverly on Thursday June 15 at 4p.m.  Meet the growers, enjoy refreshments, see what's sprouting and plant a seed if you're so inclined.

Welcome and remarks by:

• William F. Scanlon Jr., Mayor of Beverly
• Patricia Grimes, Beverly City Councilor
• Andrew Kendall, President of The Trustees of Reservations
• Melissa Dimond, Director of The Food Project-North Shore
• Larry Cohen, CEO of Electric Insurance (a corporate sponsor of the project)
• Betty Stone, Chairperson, Long Hill Garden Committee

This is a free event; dress for the outdoors and RSVP to Melissa Dimond, North Shore Director for The Food Project, at 781-346-6726 or northshore@thefoodproject.org.  Musical entertainment provided by Will Bullock.

A partnership between The Trustees of Reservations and The Food Project is only natural.  Long Hill, one of nearly 100 properties maintained by The Trustees for public use and enjoyment, is the former home of the Sedgwick family.  Two Sedgwick women, Mabel Cabot Sedgwick and Marjorie (Russell) Sedgwick, were accomplished horticulturists who designed and planted the extensive gardens and generously shared their plants and passion for gardening.  By hosting The Food Project at Long Hill, the former Sedgwick vegetable garden will once again be a source of freshly grown produce, now as a farm. 

The Food Project provides summer employment, leadership development and training in sustainable agriculture for area teenagers.  Together with The Food Project staff and community volunteers, the field will be planted, tended and harvested.  Vegetables will then be distributed to nearby food pantries as well as sold at local farmer's markets, including one on Mondays at Ellis Square, at the intersection of Church and Cabot Streets in Beverly.  “Long Hill is an ideal setting for The Food Project's new farm site.  We are delighted to be setting down roots in historic soil and in a community that has shown tremendous support for The Food Project's mission.” said Melissa Dimond, Director of The Food Project-North Shore.
Andy Kendall, President of the Trustees of Reservations, sees the partnership with The Food Project as an important way to protect special lands, “Perhaps the best thing we can do to preserve farmland is to make it viable, and to that end we are helping a new generation of farmers.  With our neighbors and partners, such as The Food Project, we are working in communities across the state to help keep fields in cultivation using the best conservation tools available.”

The Food Project: Founded in Boston and Lincoln in 1991, The Food Project creates personal and social change through sustainable agriculture. The organization's hallmark is their focus on cultivating a new generation of leaders by placing teens in unusually responsible roles, with deeply meaningful work. The Food Project-North Shore was established in 2004 to create meaningful opportunities for youth throughout the North Shore region. Together, youth and adults at The Food Project distribute healthy food for residents throughout the region while restoring agricultural land in an area where many of the nation's oldest farms were founded, yet are now threatened to disappear.