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In This Issue

New Board Members

3rd Annual Real Food Real Local Conference

Upcoming Events

Farm to School Conference

Nature's Magic Cleaning Supplies

Food Hub Development Plans Receive Funding

Passing The Torch

Now that spring is finally here the calendar is quickly filling up with events to get people active and talking about healthy food, gardening, entrepreneurship and more. We hope to see you getting involved in upcoming trainings and celebrations. Stay tuned for updates!

Made In Athens: A look at local food in Athens

Ohio University students Lauren Cohen, Anna Dearth, Carolyn Shea,

and Shaun Livingston, compiled this short documentary for
the Ohio University Founders Day celebration. Featuring many local farmers and food entrepreneurs, the video paints a portrait of the Athens area local food movement.

Made in Athens

Welcome New Board Members

ACEnet would like to welcome three new board members: Brent Hartman, Aaron Thomas, and Andrea Lewis. We are looking forward to seeing the new directions these new members will take us.

Brent Hartman, Owner of O'Nail-Hartman Insurance Agency

Aaron Thomas,

Owner of Class A Sounds

Andrea Lewis, business development The Citizens Bank

Join us for the 2014 Real Food Real Local Conference!

For details and registration visit the website.

Mark Your Calendars!

Our partners are holding a number of trainings and events in the upcoming months:

Event (click links for more information)	Date & Time	Location	Fee
Passport to the Outdoors	May 4th 12:00-5:00	Burr Oak State Park Beach	Free to kids $5 for adults
Chesterhill Consignment Auction	May 3rd 10:00 AM	Chesterhill Produce Auction	Free!
Chesterhill Auction and Potluck	May 5th 4:00	Chesterhill Produce Acution	Free!
Wildlife: Bad or Beneficial	May 8th 6:30-8:30	Athens SWCD Office in The Plains, Ohio	Free!
CFI Rain Garden Workshop	May 22 6:30-8:30	Athens Community Center	Free!

Farm to School pre-RFRL Conference

The Ohio Farm to School conference taking place June 10th will be held at the Inn at Hocking College.

Ohio's Farm to School program provides youth, pre-K through college, with access to nutritious food, while supporting local farmers and communities. This program not only provides young people with fresh, local food, but also helps them understand where their food comes from and how food choices affect their health, environment and community.

Farm to school initiatives involve connecting schools with local farms by bringing fresh, nutritious foods from local farms into school cafeterias and by offering students a variety of experiential learning opportunities. These include farm visits, food and nutrition educational activities, and incorporating nutrition education into school curriculum. Such initiatives serve to help support local farmers and keep food dollars in local economies. In addition, they help to create a generation of informed food consumers, knowledgeable not only about the nutritional significance of their food choices, but also the economic, environmental, and social impact.

In 2014 there will be six regional workshops throughout the state of Ohio focused on increasing the capacity of local communities to provide locally produced foods in schools.

Registration is $25 per person, this includes lunch!

Natures Magic: Clean and Healthy

Natures Magic owner, Danielle Young, became an ACEnet Tenant in April of 2013. Danielle creates natural, biodegradable, cleaning products. She focuses on ensuring

that products used in home cleaning are good for the earth, and healthy for the inhabitants and cleaners. She utilizes essential oils and plant-based ingredients which are highly effective and provide long term health and wellness benefits in addition to containing antibacterial and germicidal properties expected from a cleaning agent.

Danielle began Natures Magic in 2008 as a home-based business. She requested ACEnet's assistance to scale up her business capacity and gain access to wholesale and retail markets. ACEnet provided manufacturing space and helped Danielle develop her packaging and product label. Utilizing branding assistance, Nature's Magic products have acquired shelf space in many local stores including Kroger, Seaman's Cardinal Grocery, The Village Bakery, Friendly Paws, The Farmacy, and Busy Day Market in Athens. Her products are also sold out of various locations in Columbus and Toledo

Doug O'Brien Announces Grant Award of 198K

Doug O'Brien, USDA Deputy Under Secretary For Rural Development, visited Athens on March 20, 2014 to announce the award of the Rural Business Enterprise Grant to fund food hub development Southeast Ohio. Grant recipient Rural Action along with partner

organizations including ACEnet, will be working to increase access to fresh healthy foods.

The award of $198,000 will be utilized to fund infrastructure upgrades, develop peer-to-peer learning systems to share best practices, and expand distribution capacity for fresh foods. Plans include the installation of a large walk-in cooler in ACEnet's Nelsonville Facility which will increase the capacity of local producers and distributors.

The grant investment is expected to create an estimated 65 jobs and help to retain an additional 275 food sector jobs.

Passing the Torch

Marcus Bratton recently took on the title of ACEnet's Facility Manager. Richard Lehman has retired after nearly 9 years of service. We're going to miss Richard's MacGyver ingenuity around the Food Ventures Center.

Marcus joined ACEnet through Career Connections in March and has been learning all the inner-workings of the Food Ventures Center. A Meigs County native, Marcus worked in Northern Ohio and Arkansas for a while before returning to Southeast Ohio to settle down closer to family. He and his wife Christina are expecting their first child in September.

Marcus's most recent position was in Sandusky Ohio as the Maintenance Technician with the Sandusky County Sanitary Engineers. Marcus will be providing training and support to new entrepreneurs in the areas of thermal processing, food safety, and good manufacturing practices. He will also conduct upkeep on ACEnet equipment and facilities in both the Athens, and Nelsonville campuses.

Be sure to say hello if to him if you're visiting the Food Ventures Center. We are excited to welcome Marcus onto the team!

Sincerely,

Jen Harvey
Appalachian Center for Economic Networks

94 Columbus Rd.
Athens, OH 45701
Phone: 740.592.3854