The weekend of February 18-20 has been designated as “Hunger Awareness Weekend at KI.” This is the second in a series of events happening throughout the year with a focus on food justice.
The highlight of the weekend will be the showing of the movie, “Food Stamped,” an informative and humorous documentary following a young Jewish couple as they attempt to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet on a food stamp budget. KI will be joined for the entire weekend by the New-Mexico-based creators of the film, Shira and Yoav Potash.
Shira Potash, head of Sprouts Nutrition, is a certified nutritional educator who teaches nutrition-based cooking classes to elementary schoolchildren, helping them to enjoy fruits and vegetables and make healthy life choices. In her private nutrition practice, She works one-on-one with clients of all ages to guide them towards optimum health.
Her husband, Yoav Potash, is an award-winning writer and filmmaker and the founder of Summit Pictures. For over 10 years, he has produced narrative and documentary films that have aired on PBS and have screened at film festivals worldwide. He teaches film seminars at the Bay Area Video Coalition and University of San Francisco.
The Potash’s are first cousins of KI’s Cantor Sharon Hordes.
The weekend begins Friday night, February 18, with KI’s signature Shabbat Mishpacha program, the Stashever Rebbe, who will teach about Maachel Re’avim: Feeding the Hungry. This program is sponsored by the Simmy and Faye Davis Fund along with the Family Shabbat Fund.
During Saturday morning’s Shabbat service, the filmmakers will speak about their reasons for making this film and what they discovered while trying to eat a healthy diet on $1 a meal.
On Sunday morning at 11:15 a.m., the Esmin Weinberg Fund will sponsor an event for the students from Louisville High School of Jewish Studies at KI. They will viewing the film “Food Stamped” and discuss the issue of eating healthy on food stamps.
The movie will be preceded by a short panel discussion featuring a representative from Jewish Family & Career Services (JFCS), who will talk about those in the Jewish community of Louisville who rely on JCFS and government assistance to feed themselves and their families, and Bristol Mann, an intern with New Roots, a nonprofit organization that provides access to healthy, affordable food, with an emphasis on low-income eaters living without easy access to fresh produce. Bristol, a University of Louisville senior, will speak about how she has fed her family of three on a healthy diet using food stamps for over four years.
Following the film, the students will join the filmmakers in sharing a meal cooked by the KI catering crew, who are spending only $1 per person for the ingredients. This event is open to the community but RSVP’s are necessary.
Everyone attending these programs will be encouraged to bring healthy food items such as beans, whole grains like brown rice or quinoa, whole wheat pasta, canned vegetables, pasta sauce, canned fruit (no sugar added), canned tuna, salmon or sardines. Call Karyn Moskowitz at 475-8979 for more information and to RSVP. Go to www.foodstamped.com for information on the film and filmmakers.