Tonight's Dinner and Another Bessemer Farm

Eat at McAllisters in Homewood tonight.

Tuesday evening, March 31, from 5 to 8 PM, students from UAB School of Engineering will be serving you dinner at McAllister's Deli in Homewood (State Farm Parkway, Suite 104 that's near Lowe's).

Working to wait and bus tables, engineering students will raise money for their May 2009 and 2010 Engineers Without Borders (EWB) trips to Zambia in south central Africa. Students from the UAB School of Public Health will participate in the fundraiser too. The half-dozen student restaurant workers, who are scheduled for a three-hour shift, will keep 10 percent of McAlister’s revenues for the night as well as any tips. Simply put: more diners at McAlister’s that night means more money for UAB’s EWB trips.

Proceeds will help cover travel costs as well as expenses related to the infrastructure project the students will complete in Zambia for EWB. The student project will contribute to the construction of a facility that will serve as the African headquarters for the Alabama based non-profit organization SIFAT, which teaches skills that help sustain communities like water purification, malnutrition diagnosis and HIV prevention. A three-person UAB survey team travels to Zambia this May to lay the groundwork for the larger UAB team trip in 2010.

SIFAT is Servants in Faith and Technology, and is based in Lineville, AL. See what they do, and where, at Sifat.org.

Be sure to check Bessemer Science and Nature if you are interested in the Birds and the Bees. Really. Bees. Some of the best pictures I have ever taken.

People Helping People Urban Farm is located just off of I-20/59 near exit 113. Just look for this guy. He was near the farm.

Or look for their totem pole.

Or look for this plot, being prepared to plant.


Their vision: The Urban Farm will be a productive garden that allows community members to help each other and feed the underserved.

Their mission: PHP Urban Farm strives to meet the needs of people by increasing their access to fresher, more nutritious food supplies, increasing the self-reliance of communities in providing for their own food needs, and promoting comprehensive responses to local food, farm, and nutrition issues.

Virginia Ward, the contact person for the farm, told me of the success the farm has had in helping provide for the community as well as educating youth in entrepreneurial skills and sustainable agricultural skills.

They have teamed with an impressive list of stakeholders to meet the challenges they face. Visit the web site and see.

Here some of last year's produce is being harvested.

Photo used with permission of PHP Urban Farm

Here is Virginia Ward with some of the children. Look at that produce behind them.

Photo used with permission of PHP Urban Farm

I will be writing more about this farm, as well as Fig Leaf Farm, during the year.