Jennifer Rock
The Foundation for Pierce College received a $250,000 grant earlier this semester that will be used to help build the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation Teaching Kitchen and Theater Room set to begin construction around 2008.
Pierce was granted the money specifically for the construction of the community teaching kitchen and theater, which will take approximately two years to complete.
The Agricultural Education Center needs to raise $3 million for the total project which will include farm market, demonstration teaching kitchen lab, community theater room and demonstration wine production lab.
This project will also feature row crop growing area, mini-maze, pumpkin patch, u-pick vegetable and flower gardens, small animal farm, Pizza Farm, outdoor stage and seating area, picnic and special events area, demonstration bio-renewable energy park, environmental science laboratories and vineyard.
This community kitchen will be open to the public and Pierce students who would like to learn more about food handling safety, nutrition, culinary classes and food preparation.
Students will also have the chance to intern for a variety of different programs in the farmers market.
Demonstration labs will also be offered by different programs, such as a seminar on different foods from restaurant chefs in the community.
Project Coordinator Barbara Forneris feels it important to educate consumers on nutrition, growing and preparing food.
“Today’s consumers are very cautious of food safety, nutrition and the environment,” said Forneris.
The 576-square-foot Teaching Kitchen will be operated by the Community Services Program and will allow groups of 20 students to learn different techniques of cooking and healthy eating.
The Farm Market will also sell produce grown on campus and will be used as the entrance point for all other farm-related demonstrations.
According to Forneris, this building will also include outside covered eating areas for plant sales, easy access parking areas and outside and inside demonstration areas.
The planning doesn’t stop there.
The Farm Market could include taste bars for samples of various products grown on the farm a wine production plant and small cooking rooms.
The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation Theater Room in the Farm Market will come equipped with a full, sound theater speaker system and a motion picture projection system said Forneris.
This theater will be operated by volunteers and used for elementary school students attending demonstrations at the Farm Market as part of a field trip experience.
Students and adults can see film instruction on gardening, farming, environmental concerns and other local and global issues.
In order to complete the Farm Market, the Foundation for Pierce College, a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization is helping with fundraising.
The Agricultural Education Center also has a fundraiser called the “Legacy Brick” campaign in which donors can have a brick engraved with your name and put along the Agriculture Education Center pathway for a donation of $100 for a 4-by-8 inch brick and $500 inch for an 8-by-8 inch brick.
The goal to be reached from the “Legacy Brick” campaign is $1 million.
“We’re trying to do a lot of mailing so people are aware of our legacy bricks,” said Forneris.
So far, a total of 40 bricks have been sold equaling around $4,800.
Tom Oliver, former Pierce President who is now Vice President of College Development, is taking on part of the responsibility for the foundation and enterprise operations.
Along with purchasing a $500 8-by-8 inch brick, Oliver and the Agricultural Education Center hope to sell $200,000 in bricks for the long meandering walk way.
“The whole concept is to put things out there so we can generate money to keep the farm,” said Oliver.
An architectural team has been working out on the farm for two and a half months taking measurements to try to get a sense of the large area they are working with.
“We know where the farm market is going to be; now we know where to plan it,” said Oliver.
He also points out that the efforts will “bring the community back on to the campus in a big way”.
Proceeds from the grant and legacy bricks will also go back into the Pizza Farm, a section of the Agricultural Education Center shaped like a pizza, anticipated to open in 2007.
It is an educational experience that can help teach children about agriculture.
This themed element of the farm is open to the public and different elementary schools that can take field trips to the farm so children can learn what ingredients can go into a pizza.
Activities will include learning how to plant ingredients like tomatoes and onions.
“This teaches them how things that they eat are part of agriculture,” said Forneris.