On Saturday, October 25th, 2025, SOFSA hosted our third annual Food Justice Gathering at the Art and Home Center on the NYS Fairgrounds in Syracuse, NY. Organized around the theme of “Interwoven,” the Gathering was inspired by our keynote speaker, Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book The Serviceberry’s messaging. We sought to explore how our food system can be rooted in acts of solidarity and collective flourishing. Despite the rain and cloudy skies, warm laughter and flowing conversations kept people engaged and inspired.
The day started with breakfast from Fair Deli and a sneak peek at the main hallway’s later activities. Folks took their seats in the main room for the Opening Ceremony, which began with a call to action to support Indigenous communities delivered by Curtis Waterman, of Onondaga Nation. Then keynote speaker, Robin Wall Kimmerer, acclaimed author and scientist, gave powerful testimony to the strength of connection and interdependence of human beings with the natural world. Click here to see an excerpt from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s keynote. Following Kimmerer’s address, Syeisha Byrd, Commissioner of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Youth Programs offered an insightful dialogue on the importance of civic engagement. Mary Nickson, artist and activist, closed out the Opening Ceremony with an original song “Together” centered on the interwoven theme.
Following the Opening Ceremony, attendees moved into their choice of three breakout sessions. In collaboration with Syracuse University’s Engaged Humanities Network, a panel session: Environmental Storytelling Central New York featured local farmers and food advocates Mike Atkins and Monu Chhetri along with Mariaelena Huambachano (author of Recovering Our Ancestral Foodways and member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues) for a public conversation on the role of storytelling in building food sovereignty. Grounded in the experiences of their communities, panelists shared strategies and visions for re-rooting food systems in relationship, reciprocity, and care.
An interactive session led by SOFSA Community Connectors Tim Bryant and Manila Southammavong, Reimagining Governance: Centering Community Voices for Equity and Impact led participants through participatory exercises and discussion about the ways that power shows up in organizational governance. The group explored new models for more community-engaged governance and reflected on ways to bring their learnings to their own organizations.
Down in the Demo Kitchen presenters Jed Locquaio and Steve Ali were delighting participants with a food demo session called Cooking and Conversations over Culturally Relevant PB&J (Pinakbet and Jollof Rice). They shared stories of food and culture while cooking up the delicious dishes and folks were able to sample them at the end.
A book signing featuring Robin Wall Kimmerer and Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern, supported by publisher Parthenon Books, also took place during the morning breakout sessions. Attendees waited in a long yet energized line to purchase books from the authors including Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass, The Serviceberry, and her children’s book, Bud Finds Her Gift as well as Minkoff-Zern’s Will Work for Food, which examines the essential role and exploitation of frontline workers across the food chain.
After morning sessions wrapped up, attendees returned to the Martha Eddy room for lunch. A delicious meal catered by Toss n Fire even highlighted a collaboration with Salt City Harvest Farm with a specialty pizza featuring their gai lan, mustard greens, garlic, and daikon radish. Lunch offered time to connect over food and also featured programming that highlighted the people and programs that seek to improve CNY food systems. It began with a mini keynote by Damali Wynter, Assistant Commissioner of NY Ag & Market. Wynter emphasized the importance of relationship-building with the state and letting the state know what is and is not working.
We then heard from the 2025 Food Justice Fund grantees as they shared stories about how they used their awards to advance their projects. FJF Leader, Amy Tao Woodley invited attendees to apply to be part of the 2026 SOFSA Food Justice Fund Leadership Council, and help steward the available funding for the program. Stay tuned for announcements on the selection of new 2026 FJF Leaders in December!
Moving into a celebratory atmosphere, our annual SOFSA awards were given by Board member Ethan Tyo and Maura Ackerman
Awards honorees included:
SOFSA Leadership Transitions: Rhonda Vesey and Maria Bianchetti
Abundance Award: Wesley Rohadfox, We Build We Grow
Reciprocity Award: Terrlicia Shipe, Public Health Educator; Syracuse Healthy Start
Innovation Award: Monu Chhetri, Deaf New Americans Advocacy, Inc.
Interwoven Award: Galyn Murphy-Stanley, Interfaith Community Collective
We then had the privilege of watching the premiere of “Cultivating Community: Why Values-Based Food Purchasing Matters” a short film by Community Food Advocates and Real Food Media
The final lunchtime activity was activating SOFSA’s working groups. Renee gave a brief overview of our working groups and then folks moved into huddles for the group they were most interested in: Urban Agriculture, Institutional and School Food, Health and Environmental Justice, and also the Policy and Planning Committee. SOFSA fellows gathered contact information to plan for upcoming meetings and folks discussed topics that were of interest.
Due to the unique layout of the Art and Home Center, the first floor hallway became a site of resource sharing throughout the lunchtime activities. Community Resource organizations had tables full of information and resources as diverse as Master Gardeners to Helio Health. Plum and Mule offered mini market while Rhonda Vesey, co-founder of Food Access Healthy Neighborhoods Now! spoke with attendees about the work that went into and continues with the new grocery store at Valley Plaza.
New for this year, a Civic Engagement Activation Station encouraged attendees to use art to create advocacy postcards to send to their elected officials. Anti-hunger and anti-poverty prompts supported folks with their messaging and creativity.
Attendees also ventured up to our 2nd floor gallery, a contemplative space curated to reflect back on the growing movement and collective power of the SOFSA network. Visual notetaking posterboards from past Food Justice Gatherings, an expansive photo gallery, community listening session report-backs, and an interactive art piece based on the Interwoven theme all knit together the story of our region’s food system community.
When the lunch time programming ended, folks once again chose a breakout session for the afternoon.
In a smaller session, designed to be deeply personal, Sofia Gutierrez facilitated an interactive storytelling art session centered around people’s journey and relationship to food. People created and filled their own zines with journaling and artwork crafted through conversation around food and culture. The session explored how colonized norms in nutrition, in the culinary world, and beyond adversely affects people’s relationship with their culture’s food and their own bodies.
An Urban Agriculture session focused on Detroit’s journey to create an Office of Urban Agriculture within city government. Guest presenter, Patrice Brown, Deputy Director of Urban Agriculture & Nature Based Solutions answered questions from moderator Micah Orieta and then opened the floor for questions.
In the Demo Kitchen, Terrlicia Shipe, of Syracuse Healthy Start led Nourish to Protect: Nutrition and Lead Safety session. Since it was Lead Prevention Week, the informative and hands-on session was a timely option for folks who wanted to learn how to protect people from lead exposure through simple, everyday choices. Folks learned how nutrition plays a key role in reducing lead absorption in the body, and enjoyed a live cooking demonstration featuring a recipe rich in iron, calcium, and vitamin C. This session was designed to empower families with the knowledge and tools to create safer, healthier home environments.
The day came to a close as the sessions ended and folks made conversation in the hallways. Many attendees turned their attention to supporting the breakdown of the event, turning the “many hands make light work” cliche into a heartwarming actuality. As we look forward together, SOFSA continues to seek avenues for our movement building and inspiring our collective resilience here in central New York, New York state, and beyond. Despite the many challenges we are currently facing, when watching folks move, connect and grow with one another, we at SOFSA are more focused than ever in our collective resistance to the status quo.
SOFSA would like to thank the many, many people and organizations who supported the Food Justice Gathering, with their time, knowledge, skills, money, and presence. From our volunteers and support staff, to the sponsors and presenters, and all the folks who helped make it happen, we offer you our deepest gratitude. Our interwoven theme presented itself again and again at the Gathering.
As a way to create inclusive and accessible participation for all, we strive to have childcare, interpretation, dietary, and ADA accommodations for all SOFSA events. If you have feedback or questions about any of these, please reach out to info@syrfoodalliance.org