Mayo Antonio Villaraigosa, Wolfram Alderson

Mayo Antonio Villaraigosa, Wolfram Alderson, originally uploaded by Wolfram's World.

It was heartwarming and amazing to think that 30 years have gone by since organizing the very first certified farmers' market in Gardena, California. I was carrying thoughts of the remarkable visionaries like Gene Boutilier and Mike Fonte who were among the leadership of the Interfaith Hunger Coalition that first brought the dream and vision of farmers' markets to Los Angeles. Mike Fonte shared the story with me that "Gene took a gaggle of us cross-country in an old van to
Indianapolis for a meeting of folks involved in food/hunger issues.
Someone spoke about farmers' markets and the great combination of helping farmers and poor consumers at the same time....we took it back and made it happen through the IHC and with the good help of the State's direct marketing folks." Mike hired me as the first full-time organizer to lead what became the Hunger Organizing Team. My job as "Food Self-Reliance Coordinator" involved several years of work organizing the first farmers' markets in L.A.