DONOR SPOTLIGHT Building on 20 Years of Progress, One Gathering at a Time As Food & Water Watch celebrates our 20th anniversary this year, supporters across the country have found a powerful and fun way to strengthen our work — house parties! Parties with purpose Your fellow members opened their homes to friends and family this year to show how they, too, can join the effort to protect our food, water, and climate. From backyard barbecues in New York, to a garden party in Maryland, and even an Against All Odds virtual conference screening in Iowa, each house party shared a common purpose: to bring Food & Water Watch's critical work directly to their communities. Many of us want to do more to resist the terrible Trump administration, but it can feel over- whelming and hard to know where to start. Our hosts introduced their guests to concrete and effective ways to take action such as petitions to sign, upcoming event information, and how to donate and volunteer. Personal connections build power As we look forward to our next 20 years, strengthening our grassroots movement requires precisely the kind of personal outreach our house party hosts have graciously shown. Our deepest thanks go to every host who grew our community and strengthened our work!
The best part was seeing the diversity of my guests, which included a retired neighbor starting his first vegetable garden, two middle schoolers earning a 'service hour' for environmental science class, and a young mother who persuaded her landlord to let her grow veggies on her balcony. We strengthened longtime friendships and made new friends, and EVERYONE shared their hopes for a greener future. — Susan Lattimore, party host in Maryland (pictured on the left)
Marilyn Elie did a lovely job bringing the local community together as we discussed envi- ronmental threats facing Westchester County, New York, and actions we can take together. We shared amazing food, sunshine, and launched our new banner for the Stop Project Maple campaign! — Melissa Hoffmann, party attendee in New York
JOIN THE FUN! Interested in hosting a Food & Water Watch house party? For more information,
It's always good to spend casual time with other volunteers, and invite friends who are new to Food & Water Watch. Together, we watched the virtual Against All Odds event. And, I encouraged everyone to try my new sangria recipe! — Jan Coderman, party host in Iowa (pictured third from the left)
please reach out to Madeline Kelsey at
mkkelsey@fwwatch.org and visit fwwat.ch/20th
5 | FALL 2025
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