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through the local community college.

Educating the community on social and environmental issues is another way that companies are helping drive change. The Conscious Goods Alliance is a group of 14 companies (many of which are organic) that sponsor an eco-bus which travels the country on recycled veggie oil to promote sustainable living.

Some companies have even gone so far as to take on politics to save the planet. Pizza Fusion, a chain of gourmet organic pizzerias, helped lobby for Florida’s Safe Climate Act, which supports a more ecologically friendly future.

Community Giving. When we think of people living in below poverty conditions, most of us tend to think of developing countries, but there are many needy, hungry people in our own backyards.

To help struggling kids in their community start off the day with a healthy breakfast, the folks at Peace Cereal teamed up with some of their long-term ingredient suppliers, to provide single-serve packages of nutritious Vanilla Crunchies cereal. For almost two years now, FOOD for Lane County, Oregon, has distributed as many as 15,000 packages of cereal per month to local schools attended by students from low-income families. Kettle, once again, has shown their commitment to the community by donating potatoes to hunger relief agencies—last year they donated over 200 tons.

The non-profit group, Nourish America, was created to organize efforts like this on a national level, helping food and supplement companies connect with those in need. So far, several organic companies such as New Chapter, Barlean’s, Horizon and Jungle Grub, have donated items that go toward everything from disaster relief efforts and afterschool programs for inner city children, to feeding Iraq

war refugees. Clif Bar also recently donated over 6000 bars for flood victims in Iowa displaced from their homes this past June.

Another approach is to make organic foods more affordable and accessible to lower income communities. Veritable Vegetable works with Literacy for Environmental Justice in the poorer neighborhoods in southeastern San Francisco to help youth set up low-cost organic produce stands in schoolyards. In addition, they work with local corner stores, going so far as to help them set up government sponsored Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition programs, enabling these populations to have access to organic. They also hire challenged teens for their summer intern program, giving them work experience as

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