FEATURED NEWS

15 Year Recap Interview with FLV

Founder and CEO: Gayle Woodsum

Angel: “Hello! This is our 15 year capstone review, talking with CEO and founder, Gayle Woodsum. What was your vision when starting FLV?”

Gayle: “Well it started because I’d been working for two years with a lot of community elders. People who were dealing with a variety of challenges in their lives. And the common thread between all of them was access to healthy food. And that even of itself got me started thinking about-what does 'access' mean? It’s questions like, do I have enough money to buy food? How close is my grocery store? Does that store have food that reflects what I like to eat or what my cultural background or family is accustomed to eating? It was really interesting to start thinking about it from a broader perspective.Of course what I’ve known as a long time activist since the early 1980s is that all kind of social change or community change depends on genuine, sincere relationships. No we-them attitudes. Those can set up barriers. I’m always looking for ways to connect with others. 

I also started asking, what’s missing here in Albany County? 15 years ago there were a lot of traditional methods like food banks … virtually all of those food banks weren’t set up for fresh produce. The typical meal you’d get a vegetable, a meat, and a starch, and very often those were canned or pre-fab. 

But the most important thing people need is to be given respect and connection. If you give people less than the best, then you’re telling them that they’re deserving of less than the best. So the vision at the starting gate was that we wanted there to be fresh produce and it had to be of the highest possible quality. By doing both we hope to show you that one, we hear you; and two, we want you to feel good about the exchange."

Angel: “How do you think FLV aligns with that original vision today?”

Keeping It “Cool” in the New Year!

To some people, this may look like just a fridge, but to us it’s not only a thing of beauty, it’s the beginning of something new and exciting that’s been a long time in the making. Thanks to a grant from the CDC and Wyoming Department of Health, this Avantco SS-3R-HC commercial refrigerator is the first stage in a series of kitchen upgrades at the historic Fort Sanders building that will help accommodate increased need in the Shares, Mobile Market, and Kids Out to Lunch programs, as well as make possible the expansion of the Satanka Food and Community Innovation Hub and allow us to open our kitchen to private entrepreneurs who need access to a USDA-inspected commercial kitchen to launch their food businesses!

The new refrigerator was delivered just before our holiday break and the big Soup and Solstice event in December. Getting it into the building proved to be an exercise in ingenuity ...

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND EVENTS

Find out how you can contribute to a healthier planet in 2025! Feeding Laramie Valley will be hosting information about composting in Laramie, including how to DIY and where to drop off your food waste.

As part of Winterfest, a town-wide celebration of winter at 7,200 feet, Feeding Laramie Valley will be hosting a seed ordering party. We will be available to answer all of your gardening questions and get you ready for spring!

PROGRAM UPDATES

A New Partner with the Satanka Food Hub

The Satanka Food & Community Innovation Hub is consistently expanding as our efforts prove successful! Members from Ivinson Memorial Hospital, Mountain View Café, Feeding Laramie Valley, 9H Ranch, and Sheila Bird Farms all met last month to discuss how things are going after the first few months of operation of the pilot program and exciting next steps!

The Satanka Food Hub through Feeding Laramie Valley is an incredible program that allows local growers, farmers, ranchers, and institutions to connect. We are a mid-supply chain program that helps producers store, transport and market their healthy, local produce, meats, and cheeses to larger institutions such as hospitals or schools. This is a network that supplies healthy, fresh food to our community, stimulates the local economy, and supports local businesses all in one! 

We’re excited to announce that after our first successful season, the Satanka Food Hub will be adding Sheila Bird Farms to our list of producers this upcoming spring. Sheila Bird Farms is a small organic vegetable farm located on a small plot of land on the Prairie Monarch Bison Ranch, just outside Laramie, WY. They have been providing produce to our community through the Laramie Farmer’ Markets, Big Hollow Food Co-op, and their CSA program in addition to donating to several community food programs, including Feeding Laramie Valley, since 2013. 

Below is a link to the Mountain View Café Weekly Menu; please enjoy and taste the delicious Wyoming beef for yourself! All of their meals are fabulous, healthy, and budget friendly - all in one convenient location! The Mountain View Café is located at Ivinson Memorial Hospital at 255 N. 30th St. in Laramie (through the 30th Street entrance).

A Soup-tacular Celebration!

The clock struck five and all through the FLV building, we wondered if maybe we hadn’t put up enough posters, but it didn’t take long for the trickle of guests to become a bubbly, effervescent tide as laughter, smiles, and appreciative “mmm”s filled the historic Fort Sanders building to brimming. There was so much cheer, in fact, that the party spilled onto the front porch and steps on this thankfully mild mid-winter evening. 

The third annual Soup and Solstice featured the culinary talents of ten local community members, each with a hearty and delicious entry to the Soup Cook-Off. When it came time to vote, guests scratched their heads and went with their guts, because each soup was truly delightful. The crown of Best Soup of Soups ultimately went to Michelle Kaufman for her White Bean and Chicken Soup, second place to Allyson Stewart with her Zuppa Toscana, and third place to Lachlan Johnson for his Rockin’ Pork Roast Soup. Also, a huge thank you to Second Street Deli for donating a big pot of Cheddar Bacon Potato soup to make sure we had enough to feed the bustling crowd!

To give guests a break from the crowd and warmth inside, Rowan Urschel of Little Laramie Driver offered free horse cart rides with her horse Hope around the building, with lights and bells on! In addition to filling their bellies and enjoying the company of friends new and old, guests bid on fun finds from local businesses at the Silent Auction and took home beautiful hand-crafted bowls, making this Soup and Solstice our most successful yet for the amount of money raised in support of Feeding Laramie Valley’s food security programs!

Thank you to everyone who came out and supported us on (almost) the shortest day of the year, and thank you to the businesses who supported the event with donations of items for the silent auction and handcrafted bowls, including Northwest Contractors Supply, Snowy Range Ski Area, Atmosphere Mountain Works, Lina Dunning, Butcher Block, Windy City Pet Store, Sunshine Coffee, Montana Creative Woodworking, Range Leather, Bren’s Patch Ranch Work, Altitude Chophouse, Chocolate Cellar, Second Story Books, VeeBar Ranch Bed and Breakfast, La Morenita Tiendita, Jacoby Golf Course, Crystal Ballard, Silver Sage Ceramics, Siren Studios, Corporeal Clay, Hannah Rodgers, Sadie Winter, Tessa Peters, Spyridon Pottery and Glass, Art & Soul Pottery, and Robbie's House.

The Feeding Laramie Valley Specialty Crops programs will have new and exciting impacts in many Wyoming communities. 

Projects that have been funded include a unique triple geodome exhibit of specialty crops suited for Wyoming at the Wyoming State Fair, a demonstration of weed and pest control by Growing Gardens and Food Justice at the Ethete Community Garden, an intergenerational raised bed garden in Powell involving second graders at Westside Elementary and residents at Powell Valley Care Center, a project at Evanston Youth Club for Boys and Girls to teach members how to grow their own food, cook and eat healthfully, and incorporate what they grow in their Food Truck and Catering businesses, expansion to an incubator program for new farmers in Sheridan through Rooted in Wyoming, and a demonstration of pest control practices for herbs and medicinal plants garden by Elk Mountain Herbs. 

We have been working with several other organizations to prepare their applications for submission and are happy to help you prepare the best possible proposal.

There are still ample funds and plenty of time to submit grant applications, so long as your project can be completed by the end of the grant period, September 1, 2025. Our goal is 20 total projects, so submit yours today! Contact Lina Dunning, Feeding Laramie Valley Specialty Crops Coordinator at lina@feedinglaramievalley.org or see below for more information and questions.

Give the Gift of a Better Food Future!

With the growing need in the community, our needs are growing, too! Please consider making a donation to Feeding Laramie Valley this season.

Whether you are able to donate $1 or $1,000, your support makes it possible for us not only to make bridge programs like Shares possible, but also to take real action in creating a better, more equitable, and more sustainable food system for everyone!