If you live in Boone and care about sustainability, fighting hunger, and strengthening our local community, read on!

An American Library Association “Building Common Ground” grant application I headed up last fall has been funded. It will support a year of collaboration between the Watauga County Public Library, the University Office of Sustainability, the Humanities Council, and local pay-as-you-can restaurant F.A.R.M. Cafe on the issue of food security in the High Country. Here’s more on the grant program, and the project narrative:

Food Security in the High Country: Compassion Comes to the Table

This means the Library will be recruiting participants in three book groups in the next weeks:

• Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life (six sessions, February-September 2012)
• All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America? (one session, May 2012)
• Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and my Journey from Homeless to Harvard (one session, September 2012)

The books are terrific, and will be provided free of charge to participants. If you would like to participate in any of these groups – or any of the other events we are planning – please let me know and I’ll get you in touch with the Library. Thanks!