Silver City, NM – If you've ever wandered through the grounds at the Commons Center for Food Security and Sustainability or stopped in to donate some time to the Grant County Community Food Pantry or glimpsed the joy on a second grader's face as they pick a green bean from a school garden vine and eat it without hesitation, then you probably have also thought to yourself, "what an incredible amount of work this all must have taken." These are just of a few of the many contributions that Alicia Edwards' tenure as Executive Director for The Volunteer Center of Grant County (TVC) has brought to our small community.
Alicia Edwards came to TVC as the organization's only part-time employee 10 years ago and was tasked with the mission of "mobilizing human resources to meet community needs." Realizing that funders were not terribly interested in paying for volunteer coordination, Edwards instead re-evaluated the vision of TVC and got to work. Sensing that the biggest needs of our communities in Grant County revolved around systemic and generational poverty and hunger, she set to work to get the community involved and talking about these issues. A series of town hall meetings were held around the county and a partnership with a research methods class at WNMU provided people-power for door-to-door needs assessment and community conversations. As it turns out, people in Silver City, the Mining District and around the county agreed with Edwards' assessment and TVC's efforts have been working toward hunger relief, food access, establishing the importance of growing one's own food, local food, and small-scale economic development ever since.
Since then, Edwards has successfully reached out to New Mexico foundations, local donors, and policy makers to get behind the vision for TVC and most recently, built the Commons Center for Food Security and Sustainability, a .75 acre property which houses organic demonstration gardens, community space for meetings and events, and a commercial kitchen. In 10 years, Edwards has also been responsible for building the size of the organization to a staff of 4-5 part time employees, AmeriCorps service members, Food Corps service members, interns, and hundreds of volunteers in thousands of hours of community work. This work has including building community and school gardens, launching the Community Food Pantry in 2009, partnering with homebound seniors, getting weekend food to hungry kids, creating public space and so much more. In addition, Edwards has improved the capacity of TVC as a small non-profit by seeking and securing multiple partnerships with other area non-profits, schools, businesses, and civic groups.
"My part in the work of The Volunteer Center is the most important work I've done so far in my career," says Edwards. "Starting with a vision and a drawing in 2008, the Commons is becoming everything I dreamed of...a vision of what's possible for the future. I want to take everything I've learned about ending hunger and poverty and work at the policy and advocacy level, which is why I'm leaving The Volunteer Center to be the next Healthy Kids Healthy Communities Grant County (HKHC) coordinator. When the Health Council had the HKHC grant several years ago, a lot of really great things were started and now, through the NM Dept of Health, we have the opportunity to continue that amazing work. There is no reason people should be hungry or struggling as much as they are to take care of their families, but it isn't as simple as finding more food. We have to change the institutions, the structures, and the systems that perpetuate poverty. My goal is to do that work at the state-wide level."
Edwards has been honored with the Healthy Kids Healthy Communities Partner of the Year, the Healing Bowl award, the Rotary Club Hero Award and last year, TVC received the prestigious Chispa Award from the New Mexico Community Foundation. Edwards was a founding member of the Grant County Food Policy Council, is a member of the Southwest Regional Food Policy Council, a founding board member for the Grant County Community Foundation, was a founding advisory member of the New Mexico Collaboration to End Hunger and currently sits on the Grant County Community Health Council for the Food Security and Community Resiliency Sector, is a member of the New Mexico Strategic Leadership Institute, and has recently completed Emerge training for Democratic women interested in running for public office.
Vice president of the board, Barbara Gabioud commented, "TVC couldn't have done what it's done without her vision and efforts nor would our community have benefited so greatly. We're excited for Alicia and the new direction she's taking. TVC is looking forward to working with her in her new position as we continue to grow and expand. "
Edwards concludes by saying, "I know there is an young, energetic, visionary out there that will take TVC and the Commons to new and yet to be dreamt of heights--I look forward to both myself and TVC being "re-potted" and continuing to thrive." Alicia will be leaving The Volunteer Center at the end of the year.