I'm Elza Thomas I'm a rising third-year at UVA, majoring in psychology and
sustainability. My summer has been spent working as a Morven Food Lab fellow at
New Roots farm, which is a project of the International Rescue Committee. New Roots
provides land for farmers who are former refugees who came to Charlottesville
from places where there is war or other crisis. The farmers that we work with
grow food for other refugee families and the public for sale through our
neighborhood farm stand. This summer I've not only been working in the New
Roots community gardens, I've also been working with the city of
Charlottesville to try to get traffic calming measures passed in Mickey Drive
to make it more safe for people to access the neighborhood farm stand. A lot
of these farmers are coming from places where they are used to growing their own
food. Coming into a new place where you don't
have the food you once ate, it can be really challenging. Kind of giving them
that food access is an important mission of the New Roots program. I've always
been interested in agriculture and growing my own food and a big part of my
UVA experience has been about learning what it will take to create a more
sustainable food system. The Morven food lab fellowship made it possible for me
to bring what I've learned here out into Charlottesville and make a difference.