CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - The United States Ambassador to the United Nations came to Chicago to tour a vegetable garden in Grant Park, among other things.
UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said she’s been going around the country talking about food insecurity, and she was scheduled to speak in Chicago to the Council on Foreign Affairs.
But, she also toured the Grant Park Art Farm, run by the Urban Growers Collective. The ambassador said the lesson to be learned worldwide is that people can take their food insecurity issues into their own hands. She said she took that message with her on a recent trip to Ghana, and it is one she was bringing to Chicago.
“I gave a speech in which I stressed that Africans can become the breadbasket of the world. They don’t have to be dependent, urban areas, people don’t have to be dependent on food coming from elsewhere,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
The ambassador said she was impressed with the Grant Park Art Farm.
“Look at what has been done with this small area, and I am told there’s farms like all around Chicago, so again, people can take this as a learning experience and teach their kids,” Thomas-Greenfield added.
Laurell Sims, co-founder of the Urban Growers Collective that runs the gardens, said they were happy to play host. The Grant Park Art Farm provides job training and opportunities for would-be urban farmers.
“I think food security is such a huge issue and it’s something that we were really hoping the Biden administration would focus on, and we haven’t seen a lot of that,” said Sims.
That was the main focus of Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield’s trip, as she spoke to reporters holding a fist-full of Basil and peppers, some of which the avid, Louisiana-born cook intends to try. She loves very spicy food.
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