Johnson EATS

WORKING…. Johnson EATS Committee Monthly Meeting Minutes Thursday, March 19, 2026 6:00 pm, Masonic Temple Basement (Temporary Library) ALL ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND - WE ENCOURAGE COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION Meeting was open to virtual attendance Board Members (P=Present; A=Absent) Pam Jaspersohn P Kate Riley A Jasmine Yuris P Diane Lehouillier P Charlotte Roozekrans P Gregor Novakowski P Jesse Whitworth P Visitors present: Bill Jaspersohn, Liz Kauffman (VSC and PTO) 1.​ Meeting convened! 2.​ Additions or Changes to the Agenda? NO 3.​ Feb. Minutes approved (Jesse motioned, Dee seconded, all in favor) 4.​ JES Meal - reflections a.​ Attendees very happy: EATS volunteers, parents, students, teachers, GMTC students, PTO b.​ Emily and Dane - both amazing to work with! c.​ Served ~175 portions, ~120 persons d.​ Leftover soup taken home, delivered to food shelf, given away at store to Rory (=> new EATS member) e.​ Supporting GMTC - student learning, advertising program, possible cafe f.​ Great convergence of resources and good will, creating community g.​ Joy played for 2 hours - awesome! h.​ Minor glitch - used more plastic cutlery than we expected i.​ Jasmine to email Dane - should we replace the school’s silverware? ii.​ If so, set up buying/pick up arrangement with Mike from general store iii.​ Ask Lotte before making expenditures like this i.​ Ask Emily about a thank you gift (kitchen tool?) for each GMTC student 5.​ Community Meals a.​ Is this sustainable? i.​ A lot of meeting time, but may not need to repeat preliminary meetings ii.​ Set-up/clean-up takes time in new settings - could use more volunteers (e.g.,PTO helpers) and in shifts, alleviated by repeat events, b.​ Have we had any movement on other upcoming meals? i.​ Food shelf meals for families at breaks - yes!  ii.​ VSC - beautiful last May, especially with the storytelling, but May is crowded with board, but maybe bring in VTCC culinary program for a weekend instead, for now consider beginning of October good (two weeks without residents) iii.​ JES - 1.​ Possible events: a.​ End of school year picnic with pizza oven (during day with parents - comes through at lunchtime - but could be a big group picnic maybe)? b.​ Or beginning of year bbq? c.​ Oven - Thursdays from July 4 to end of August) d.​ Incorporate food from school garden into the start of year - can EATS organize garden care for them during the summer? Apprenticeships/deputize kids? Produce to food shelf or families or the pizza oven (e.g., basil)? Food shelf oversight? VSC residents or summer camp run by VSC (could be a unit)? JES outdoor classroom… 2.​ Will email Dane to ask about the possibilities for meals and set up a meeting with him after the next EATS meeting to discuss garden and food shelf connections 3.​ Great to connect school and community (put them into that space) 4.​ JES rep: you’re free to use kitchen for whatever you want to do iv.​ GMTC - how do involve them more - 1.​ transportation to meal sites is a problem 2.​ Emily willing to explore involving EATS volunteers in the kitchen 3.​ Demos to JES kids? Mentoring between GMTC and JES? v.​ Blueberry festival Aug. 1 at Waterman’s? with Morna Flom (Discover Johnson) 1.​ Pies? Soda? 2.​ Contact Kirsten, Emily, and Gary about gathering/gleaning blueberries for this 3.​ Help find musicians? vi.​ Potlucks (looking for rhythm/regularity) 1.​ Town meeting at JES? Ask Dane…. 2.​ Include elders – e.g. Hardwick’s bingos and burgers and JES pasta dinner on April 10 (will go in FPF) 3.​ Dibden shows - incorporate food (ice cream?) 4.​ Johnson “wedding” - dress up, dance, drunk speeches, “rededicate your vows”… vii.​ New kitchen/dining space across river from VSC – TBD 6.​ Food Shelf Updates a.​ Recent ask for volunteer: i.​ Market 32 weekly pick up Tues at 10AM bring it to food shelf, weigh and record it, put it away  a.​ Ask Dorigen about: scheduling and posting training session at shelf to our group and on FPF b.​ Chili Cookoff reflections i.​ Went great! Lots of chili, very crowded (200+), Doug Boardman played, Jackie won the best chili prize ii.​ Food shelf raised - $800+ (costs were $100, donated by Diane) iii.​ Need to work on serving utensils iv.​ Friday or Saturday would be better (to get families with kids) 7.​ Treasurer’s Report a.​ $1799 at present minus minor costs from JES meal 8.​ Grants (VCF, Discover Johnson, FAHC…) - need to bolster a.​ Summer meal needs b.​ Jasmine has submitted apps for: i.​ VTElectric (???) ii.​ VT Community Foundation ($5000) c.​ Other possibilities (e.g., Concept II) - need town board approval before applying for new ones - way to streamline? i.​ Jesse will ask Paul how to streamline - e.g., we send a list of possibilities for umbrella approval - send others as we discover asking for veto/opt-out approach d.​ Need to find a way to share the grant-writing work (Jasmine sharing the narratives she’s written) 9.​ Other Business a.​ Jesse bought a Johnson EATS domain ($6/yr) so we can have an official free website and explore other social media – https://townofjohnson.com/community-oven-committee/ i.​ Will help to have online presence to help with grants, etc. ii.​ Need to think about how we’re doing media - need to start capturing photos/video, etc. in a more dedicated way b.​ Dane asked about getting food to families from the food shelf (esp during break time) - finding a distribution system (e.g., PTO delivering to families) - need to involve Dorigen in the conversation 10.​Next Meeting: April 16, 2026 11.​Meeting adjourned