The Sylvia Center Announces Its Expansion At A Fundraising Jam On The Farm

Let it be known that Rural Intelligence has covered every Sylvia Center farm dinner on Katchkie Farm since 2012, and each year our admiration for the organization and the farm’s mission grows like the sunflowers lining the fields. On Saturday, July 13, supporters gathered at the Kinderhook farm, site of The Sylvia Center’s garden-to-table program, which teaches kids what fresh food is, how it’s grown, and how they can use it to create healthy meals for themselves and those they love.

The event on Saturday began, as usual, with drinks and hors d’euvres under one tent (a highlight: students from a partnership with Perfect Ten in Hudson prepping white mole tostada bites — delicious!), followed by a move to the dinner tent for a meal prepared and served by Great Performances —owned by The Sylvia Center’s and farm’s Liz Neumark — whose employees donate their time at the dinner every year (and manage to maintain their good humor despite intense heat and humidity). Barbara Glassman, The Sylvia Center’s executive director, updated the guests on the nonprofit’s latest ventures. “We’ve grown 80 percent upstate,” she said, speaking of the culinary programming for underserved youth and their families. “We’re not just in Columbia County anymore; we now serve students from the Capitol District.” Although this year’s event did away with the annual paddle raise, the promise of a gift of Liz Neumark’s homemade jam to each contributor was enough of an enticement — and proved how much supporters appreciate the organization, the farm, and a special jar of jam.