Welcome to the second and final installment featuring Kingston Spotlights series Seeds of Change, Harvests of Care. This storytelling series is rooted in the lived wisdom of Kingston residents. In our Seeds of Change newsletter we explored how schools and various education models are nourishing wellness from an early age. Now, we widen the lens, with Harvest of Care turning towards food, transportation, and community as everyday pathways to build a collective healthy future.

Supported by the Creating Healthy Schools & Communities (CHSC) grant, this series uplifts the powerful work already happening across Kingston. These stories remind us that wellness begins in kitchens, on sidewalks, at community meetings, and in the relationships we grow together. By listening intently and honoring community expertise, we can build systems that reflect the lives, needs, and dreams of those most impacted. This is a love letter to that kind of care: creative, rooted, collective, and ongoing.

If you like what you've read, be sure to check our Live Well Kingston Instagram and Facebook pages for these stories but with more depth, more photos, and more heart, or https://livewellkingston.org/kingston-spotlights/.

Spotlight Stories: Community in Action

In Kingston, Emmet Moeller is redefining what a food business can be. As the chef and founder of Common Table, Emmet has created a queer-led, values-driven kitchen that connects people through nourishment, mutual aid, and local sourcing. For every subscription meal prepared through Common Table’s Full Fridge Club, another is donated to the Kingston Community Fridge - over 2,500 meals and counting. “Food is queer. There’s no one right way to make something beautiful,” Emmet says. That spirit of creativity and care is present in every dish they make.

Emmet's work also extends into education and seasonal food access. As one of this year's guest chef instructors for Kingston Cooks, a series of free community cooking workshops, Emmet has helped neighbors feel more confident cooking with local produce, especially those who may have been excluded from traditional food systems. For Emmet, food is about love, justice, and connection: “The idea that we can provide real, substantive care through food, that’s so important to me.”

For More Information on Common Table: https://www.commontableny.com/

Born and raised in Kingston, Roselyn Vargas has been reshaping her city meal by meal. Her path began with the Kingston YMCA Farm Project, where she learned to cook with local produce and helped stock Kingston’s free fridges. That experience sparked a deeper understanding: food is about more than nourishment, it’s about showing up for your community.

As part of the program's Youth Design team, she helped conduct sensory mapping, surveyed residents, and presented recommendations at City Hall for the development of the City of Kingston's newest, park, Post Office Park, a project rooted in youth voices, accessibility, and safety. When plans emerged on another Youth Design project to add a kitchen to an upcoming community hub, Roselyn and her teammate went door to door interviewing other community kitchens. What they uncovered was a network of underused kitchens and the need for shared resources. “We discovered a network that was already there; we just had to listen,” she says. Her work continues to inspire what it looks like to build with, not just for, community.

For More Information on the Kingston YMCA Farm Project: https://www.kingstonymcafarmproject.org/

As a former Director of Public Works in cities across the country, Claudette Ford has spent her life building the systems that keep cities moving, from storm drains to streetlights. Now legally blind, she brings that same dedication to Kingston as a member of the Complete Streets Advisory Council. In her neighborhood, she's helping to lay the groundwork for safer sidewalks, and better connected and accessible communities. For Claudette, her work is about dignity, safety, and belonging. “Whether you're disabled or a parent pushing a stroller, you shouldn't have to walk in the street to get where you need to go,” she says.

Through her work, Claudette champions walkable, accessible streets designed for everyone. Her decades of experience in public works inform her vision: infrastructure isn’t background noise, it’s the foundation of a just city. “You don’t think about the stoplight, the sidewalk, the streetlight, until they don’t work,” she says. Whether or not she sees every change come to life, Claudette is committed to what she calls “laying the groundwork for future movement, one sidewalk at a time."

For More Information on Kingston's Complete Streets Advisory Council: https://kingston-ny.gov/CompleteStreetsAdvisoryCouncil

From a childhood shaped by food apartheid, to a life grounded in collective action, Devon Wood now organizes with the Kingston Emergency Food Collaborative (KEFC), a grassroots network that feeds, listens to, and responds to the real needs of neighbors. As a child, he remembers thinking, "We live in a hotel! This is awesome." As an adult, he now understands the institutional barriers and resiliency behind his mother’s efforts to feed him.

The Kingston Emergency Food Collaborative is a grassroots network formed in response to COVID-19 that continues to meet ongoing community needs with care, flexibility, and intention. They distribute pantry staples, fresh produce, and nutritious microwavable meals, because having food isn't enough if people don't have the means to prepare and enjoy it. “We can’t just hand out food that people don’t have the tools to prepare,” Devon says. “So we ask questions. We listen. We respond with dignity.”

They are working to shape not just how food is distributed, but how communities connect and food systems transform. Their work is rooted in the belief that food is medicine, health is a right, and community care is essential. Food insecurity didn’t start with COVID-19, and it hasn’t ended. The word “emergency” remains in their name precisely because their work remains urgent and necessary.

For More Information on Kingston Emergency Food Collaborative: https://www.kingstonemergencyfood.com/

Community Impact at a Glance

Community-led advocacy along with support from Creating Healthy Schools and Communities (CHSC) has helped Kingston make real progress. Here are some of the highlights over the past few years:

2,500+ donated meals to Kingston Community Fridges by Common Table, increasing food access and supporting local farms.
Promoted food justice through sourcing from BIPOC and queer farmers, hosting educational events, and elevating seasonal eating at Common Table
Advanced youth leadership in urban planning, civic engagement, and food systems research through the Kingston YMCA Farm Project.
Advocated for pedestrian safety, sidewalk accessibility, and mobility justice as part of Kingston’s Complete Streets Advisory Council.
Connected infrastructure, public health, and equity through participation in the City of Kingston's Department of Health and Wellness initiatives like Live Well Kingston and Kingston Eats.
Used lived experience and public works expertise to inspire long term systems change and intergenerational advocacy.

About CHSC & Live Well Kingston

Left to right: Tracy Snyder (Family of Woodstock), Emily Flynn (City of Kingston, Ninette Warner (Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County), Kristin Kessler (City of Kingston)

Funded through the New York State Department of Health, Creating Healthy Schools and Communities (CHSC) supports long-term, sustainable changes to improve nutrition, increase physical activity, and reduce health disparities. In Kingston, CHSC partners with Live Well Kingston, a coalition of community members, city staff, and local organizations supporting communities in making their own healthy choices, creating spaces where people can invest in their well-being.

A Map of Community Care

Whether you’re sowing a seed, nurturing a child, or feeding your community, you are part of this story. The health of our city begins with how we care for one another. Stay connected. Stay involved.

Here are a few ways that you can plug in:

Join the City of Kingston's Live Well Kingston Commission or one of its focus teams by Writing To Us.
Keep us with us by following us on Facebook and Instagram.
Get civically engaged! Consider joining one of your city's boards or commissions. At the City of Kingston, we have 28 options. Check them all out here.
Find a place to volunteer that's meaningful to you. If you live in Ulster County and don't know where to start, check out Ulster Corps.
Liked what you saw? Check out the project page at https://livewellkingston.org/kingston-spotlights/.
Have Questions or Ideas about CHSC? Reach out to us!