Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Events and Public Relations intern for Maine’s food and wine festival, Harvest on the Harbor

We (the Greater Portland Convention and Visitors’ Bureau) are offering an internship opportunity based on the waterfront in Portland, Maine. The position is p/t as an Events and Public Relations intern for Maine’s food and wine festival, Harvest on the Harbor (http://www.harvestontheharbor.com/). You would be working directly with me and two of my colleagues. Any and all interested in culinary event planning and public relations, culinary and agri-tourism are encouraged to apply. Any interested in future career opportunities in Maine’s culinary or agricultural communities will find endless professional connections as a result as their work with the CVB. Portland, Maine boasts the most restaurants per capita of anywhere in the United States. The city’s proximity to both agricultural land and fishing grounds aids in Portland’s overwhelming culinary focus on farm to table cuisine. Harvest on the Harbor is also farm-to-table themed this year. PLEASE NOTE: in order to be eligible you must be 21+ (or turning 21 before October 20th) and must be available to work ASAP through the first week of November.

Harvest on the Harbor Internship 2011

Employer Information:
Greater Portland Convention & Visitors Bureau
94 Commercial Street, Suite 300
Portland, Maine 04101
(207) 772-4994

Contact Information:
Allison Goddard
Special Events Coordinator
(207) 772-4994 x 231
agoddard@visitportland.com

colleen@visitportland.com

Dates: Summer/Fall 2011 (p/t with increasing hours leading up to event, f/t 2 weeks leading up to event)

Harvest on the Harbor Internship
o    Assist in pre-planning details of Harvest on the Harbor, including registration, contacting sponsors, creating schedules and timelines, and general follow-up as needed.
o    Serve as a contact for any guest, exhibitor, or sponsor who has questions or comments about the event.
o    Follow-up with and manage exhibitors and sponsors who will have a presence at Harvest on the Harbor
o    Actively participate in team meetings and provide insight on short and long term goals, as well as the overall direction of the event.
o    Involvement in proper follow-up, post-event, including thank-you letters, wrap-up notes, media, and surveys.
o    Provide general administrative help to the department
o    Other event duties as they arise

Additional Duties/Opportunities

Food and Wine
o    Gain knowledge about Maine food products, culinary experts, food artisans, farmers, and fishermen
o    Learn about Maine’s wineries, breweries, and distilleries
o    Arrange programming: cooking demonstrations, seminars, contests, celebrity presentations, and formal tasting events

Public Relations and Media
o    Involvement with promoting Harvest on the Harbor through the press, including print publications, websites, television, radio, and blogging/social media
o    Gain an understanding of the critical role that public relations plays in coordinating a major event.

Event Planning
o    Understand the logistics involved in planning and executing a major event: site planning (tents, tables, electrical, communication); local & state regulations (licensing, safety, insurance); ticketing; hiring and coordination of staff and volunteers
o    On-site management of each event (if applicable) to include various duties and responsibilities.

Advertising
o    Assist in strategic planning for media
o    Assist in the creation of advertisements: writing, layout, computer design
o    Edit, update and possibly create printed materials including invitations, brochures, posters, scripts, and overall event description(s)
o    Assist with website design and maintenance
o    Understand how to build a brand

Sales and Sponsorships
o    Learn how sponsorships generate revenue and benefit businesses
o    Assist in the development of promotions and the drafting of contracts
o    Learn about merchandising

Volunteer Coordination
o    Recruit and manage over 200 volunteers needed to perform various duties throughout the three-day event.
o    On-site training of volunteers during the event to include instruction on wine pouring, ticket-taking, greeting, safety and more.
o    Assist in pre-planning details of Harvest on the Harbor including creating schedules and timelines and general follow-up as needed.
o    Actively participate in team meetings and provide insight on short and long term goals, as well as the overall direction of the event.
o    Involvement in proper follow-up post-event including thank-you letters, wrap-up notes, and surveys.
o    Other event duties as they arise
____________________________________________________________________

Perks
o    Ambassador Pass (to experience all that Greater Portland has to offer)
o    Endless networking with high caliber business leaders
o    Attend meeting with decision makers
o    Get real life, multifaceted experiences 


Hours: A minimum of 15-20 hours/week (more hours if necessary to fill credit hour requirements) with a larger commitment during the last few weeks before the event.
Salary: Internship is unpaid but experiences and perks are plentiful.


Qualifications: Seeking a goal orientated individual with the ability to work on a schedule and think outside of the box. Applicants must be dependable, outgoing, confident on the phone, a self-starter, enthusiastic and have a strong work ethic. This opportunity will be of special interest to business, communication, media studies, and marketing majors but is open to all.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Immediate Opening for 2 to 4 People to Work with Hampton Falls, NH Farm

About: Applecrest attends six seacoast area farmers markets per/week from June thru end-October.  I’m looking for 2 to 4 people to help run the program.  These can be both part-time and/or full-time seasonal positions.  Ideal candidates have a strong interest in agriculture, farm marketing and sustainably grown produce.  While these are essentially “retail” positions, direct agricultural  work experience is a huge plus….as is an interest in food, diet, nutrition and cooking.  Day to day direct contact w/ the farm, the workers, the growing operations and over 130 varieties of fruits and veggies is an integral part of this paid job.
Todd L. Wagner


Applecrest Farm Orchards
133 Exeter Road, Hampton Falls NH 03844

Tel:  +1 603 926 3721
Cel:  +1 603 997 2075
Fax:  +1 603 926 0006

CHEFS (Charting Emissions from Food Services) Fellowship in Portsmouth, NH!!

Clean Air-Cool Planet (CA-CP) is inviting applications for our competitive Climate Fellowship program. CA-CP is an action-oriented nonprofit that works with corporations, campuses, communities and science centers to find and promote solutions to global warming. We provide practical solutions that demonstrate the economic opportunities and environmental benefits of climate leadership. CA-CP’s Climate Fellowships pair outstanding students with challenging, important projects that will propel the US toward a low-carbon future. CA-CP
Climate Fellows receive supervision, mentorship, unique networking opportunities, and a stipend.

The Project: Charting Emissions from Food Services (CHEFS)
While agriculture and land use change is estimated to contribute one-third of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, few tools exist to aid institutions in measuring and managing the emissions associated with their dining service programs.  We have thus embarked on an innovative venture to create a new tool: CHEFS- Charting Emissions from Food Services.  Not only does CHEFS allow users to estimate their dining-related carbon footprints, but we are also 1) creating momentum within corporate foodservice providers to green their own operations, and 2) contributing to the body of life cycle data for food production in North America. 

We have completed a first phase of piloting the new tool, but will be undertaking further pilot testing with the online Beta version of the tool throughout 2011.  The fellow will be responsible working with the Carbon Accounting Manager to support the pilot schools through the process of using the CHEFS tool, create outreach or user support materials based on the pilot program to further the CHEFS program, and update the CHEFS database with any newly published life cycle assessment (LCA) studies.  This effort will include tasks such as providing phone and email training or problem solving support to the pilot schools, distilling the experiences of the pilot schools and writing (and potentially designing) user support or outreach materials, reading LCA studies and selecting the best data for the CHEFS tool, and analyzing the aggregate purchasing data collected by the pilot institutions to answer questions about the average make-up of food service purchases within higher education. The fellow’s efforts will move the program forward significantly, and eventually he or she will see their contribution in a nationally deployed tool.

Project Goal and Desired Outcomes:
Overall goals are to improve upon the existing CHEFS application and supporting materials; to facilitate successful completion of the data gathering and analysis process for our 2011 pilot schools; and to synthesize priority research needs in the arena of dining services supply chains.
At the conclusion of the project, this fellow will:

-          Have project management experience
-          Relationships with a variety of institutional partners
-          Knowledge of the highly specialized field of life cycle analysis, and familiarity with institutional dining service supply chains
-          Experience working independently
-          Experience with quantitative data analysis
-          Portfolio: graphs and other data analysis work, a blog post, outreach materials and templates, and a white paper outlining priority research needs in the dining service sector

Location: CA-CP offices, Portsmouth, NH

Time commitment: Full time, 10 weeks (between May and August)

Compensation: $5000 stipend

Desired Qualifications:

1.         Enrolled in a B.S./B.A. or M.S./M.A. Degree Program
2.         Knowledge of climate change science required
3.         Ability and previous success working independently required
4.         Professional phone and email skills required
5.         Exceptionally organized and dedicated to following through with individual tasks
            required
6.         Experience working within a large corporation or organizations preferred
7.         Experience with life cycle analysis preferred. 

CA-CP Climate Fellowship program eligibility:

Graduate students, exceptional undergraduate students, and recent graduates are eligible. We will encourage, but not require, an academic sponsor or reference for each fellow, and where possible we will ask that course credits are awarded. In order to attract the highest-quality applicants and to enable students to take advantage of these opportunities regardless of their financial situation, fellows will be awarded competitive stipends, provided by CA-CP.

Supervision, Training and Mentoring

This fellow will receive day-to-day supervision and mentoring from Clean Air-Cool Planet’s Carbon Accounting Manager, Claire Roby and from CA-CP’s Director of Program Planning. 

Fellows in each session will be expected to participate in two events:

            ♦Midterm project presentations to CA-CP staff and relevant project partners
            ♦ A summative evaluation and feedback session at the end of their placement.

These workshops and other post-fellowship communication mechanisms ensure that CA-CP
Climate Fellows will belong to a network of passionate students and professionals,
and will be able to collaborate and continue learning even after the project has ended.

To apply, please submit a letter of interest and resume addressed to Claire Roby at croby@cleanair-coolplanet.org.

SNAP Benefits Accepted at Maine Farmers Market - Market Match Doubles Value of Food Stamps


 Foster's Daily Democrat Article published May 18, 2011


Courtesy photo Colleen Schriefer  and Louise Ellison
 man the North Berwick Farmers Market booth
  where food stamps can be processed.
 
 North Berwick Farmers Market opens
NORTH BERWICK — Last Friday was opening day for the North Berwick Farmers Market, held every Friday 3-6 p.m. at the Town Hall parking lot.

In its third year, the market has grown in vendors and sales every year, said Manager Rebekah Yonan. This year the market is taking Food Stamps for the first time, and is only the second farmers market in York County, Maine, to do so. Sanford's market also accepts the federal subsidy payments.
At the North Berwick market, an added aid for people using Food Stamps is a "market match" system where half the purchase is subsidized up to $20 so customers get twice as much value.

Initial funding for the match system is coming from Kennebunk Savings Bank, Hussey Seating and Carpe Diem Coffee.

"The government is putting billions into food stamps and the idea is to try to bring that in locally. The idea is for people to have access to quality food. It's really a perfect match," said Yonan.

Vendors range from vegetable growers to bakers, nurseries to a livestock owner who knits items from her own animals' wool.

Food Stamp users have to bring their Pine Tree card and have it swiped at a processing booth before shopping. Other states' cards, such as New Hampshire, also are accepted.

The market will be open through October.

For more information call 207-676-3356 or visit www.northberwickfarmersmarket.org or on Facebook.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Food Movement is Now an Official College Major - article by Kristin Fuhrmann-Simmons

EcoGastronomy: Food movement is now an official college major

I am ready to go back to school. I want to study "EcoGastronomy" at the University of New Hampshire.
What is that? In short form, from UNH's website, it is "the art and appreciation of preparing and eating good food."
The course title indicates that the "art and appreciation" of food is tightly linked to our environment, and the mixture of social, economic, political, and ethical issues associated with food production and eating. You instinctively understand that is the study of food and all the things that go with it, from how we eat and enjoy it, to how it is made. It takes that prayer that many of us state before our meals, "Thank you for this food and the hands that prepared it," and digs deeper into the hows, whys, and implications of our reverence.
Started three years ago as an outcropping of the business, life science and agriculture programs, ecogastronomy is a way for students of any discipline to study sustainable food systems.
The program's director, UNH alum Dan Winans, returned to the Seacoast to develop the program after studying at the University of Gastronomic Science in Italy.
"We have a unique opportunity to create our own definition if what ecogastronomy is all about," he said.
The major is unique in the country and program is tightly linked to the Slow Food movement, founded by Carlo Petrini. It has based its mission on the tenets of enjoying food, understanding its harvest and the connection it has to nature. Students choose a course of study in adjunct to their major, and partake in a semester-long program in Italy at the University of Gastronomic Sciences.
I had the opportunity to meet with the graduating seniors in the program, and hear their project presentations.
Sarah Breen developed a project around the logistics of planning a New England food tour.
"Why not have that kind of magic experience here? We have so much to offer!" Breen said, recalling the magic she experienced as a tourist in Italy, soaking in the land and food.
Breen detailed how promoting indigenous products such as maple syrup, seafood, beer and wine would support the economy and culture of New England in a manner that similar programs do in Europe.
Emily Goldman was inspired by the communal eating experiences she had while in Europe.
"The time and energy invested in social dining was rewarding," she said. She and her fellow students experienced first-hand how a meal, prepared in a manner that would allow multiple courses as well as community interaction, became a touchstone through which they could connect, have meaningful discourse and truly enjoy the ingredients they were tasting.
Ryan Miller focused on oenology and the biodynamic production of wine. While in the Piedmont region of Italy, Miller toured San Fereolo Vineyards and revelled in the flavor of the naturally produced fruits and the wines that were created as a result.
The program has events throughout the academic year that showcase ecogastronomy in all it manifestations, from dinners, to wine expos and farmers market booths. (Correction:  Students go to these types of events as part of an EcoGastronomy portfolio designed to help students experience many different aspects of the food system.)
Kristin Fuhrmann Simmons is the owner and baker at kristin f. simmons, custom cakes. She may be reached at kafcooks@gmail.com.  THANK YOU Kristan for a wonderful article!