My Nonprofit Reviews

Just about a year ago I was planning to attend the 2008 Hazon Food Conference. This was the first I had heard of Hazon and here I was propelled into the heart of the Jewish food movement with the help of a scholarship from Birthright Israel NEXT. As a student of naturopathic medicine and a new resident of Toronto, I was looking for a way to bring what I was learning about health and nutrition together with an underlying interest in sustainability, while continuing to grow spiritually and be connected to a like-minded community. The Food Conference became a grounds for all of this! I learned practical food skills and environmental practices, built my knowledge of herbs and food issues, and began to connect intentionally with Jewish spiritual traditions around food and environment. I was inspired enough that just participating would have made me a Hazonik. Here is an organization stringing together healthy communities and creating experiences for people that awaken them to their connection with and potential to better the world around them. There are big messages about sustainability, individual and planetary health and responsibility, but what's unique about Hazon is the way it puts the building blocks for these ideals into participants hands. As much as theories and long-term projects, there are do-it-yourself sessions, engaging and practical foundations that are set from which I walked away with the intention and the ability to make changes that would be fit me healthily into the food system. This has something to do with why I joined the executive committee for the 2009 Hazon Food Conference. This was a community I could grow from and wanted to contribute to. Right now I'm helping plan and especially promote this December's Food Conference. In excellent Hazon fashion, the staff and committee have gotten me personally connected, given me tools and support to contribute in whatever way I can, and been receptive to ideas and suggestions. I could go on for a long time about the specific initiatives through which Hazon is making a difference, but I think one of the best things it does is in the way it does it: amplifying actions and attitudes that will save the world by getting people moving, involved and active.

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