- Brayden Nadeau (Auburn)
- Houda Aden (Lewiston)
- Isha Kasai (Lewiston)
- Odivio Mariano (Lewiston)
Ranging in age from 13 to 25, Brayden, Houda, Isha, and Odivio demonstrate incredible leadership as food systems changemakers: from growing food for their community and sharing their experiential knowledge with local elected officials about the potential impact of land use decisions on the future of local agriculture, to facilitating meaningful opportunities for their peers to engage with their food system while their deepening cultural and cross-generational connections, and much more!
We hope that celebrating these incredible young people – who this year coincidentally happen to all be from Lewiston and Auburn (nominations we’re open to the public for youth across Androscoggin County) – in what has been a challenging year for so many, offers a welcome bright spot full of hope for the seeds we are planting now to nourish our collective futures.
You are invited to help us celebrate and learn more about each of the 2023 Youth Food Champions by joining us for “Young Mainers’ Efforts for Food and Climate Justice”, on January 15th, at 1:15 PM in-person at Bates College, Pettingill Hall, Room G21, during the annual Martin Luther King Jr Day Observance, the theme of which this year is “Food & Food Justice”. The presentation will begin with the 2023 Youth Food Champion Awards and will be followed by a talk with Q&A by Scarlet Labbe-Watson, a young member of Maine Youth for Climate Justice, about Maine’s food sovereignty and climate justice connections. Please register to join us for free here on January 15.
We also invite you to also check out all the other free, incredible educational and arts based programming with the “Food & Food Justice” theme in honor of MLK’s legacy that day here.