The 22nd Annual Energy Fair Annouces Will Allen as Keynote Speaker

Will Allen, Founder and CEO of Growing Power, will give a keynote address on Local Food Friday, June 17^th, 1:00 p.m. at The Energy Fair.

Son of a sharecropper, former professional basketball player, ex-corporate sales leader and now farmer, Will Allen, has become recognized as among the preeminent thinkers of our time on agriculture and food policy. The founder and CEO of Growing Power Inc., a farm and community food center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Will is widely considered the leading authority in the expanding field of urban agriculture.

At Growing Power and in community food projects across the nation and around the world, Will promotes the belief that all people, regardless of their economic circumstances, should have access to fresh, safe, affordable, and nutritious foods at all times. Using methods he has developed over a lifetime, Will trains community members to become community farmers, assuring them a secure source of good food without regard to political or economic forces.

In 2008, Will was named a John D. and Katherine T. McArthur Foundation Fellow and was awarded a prestigious foundation “genius grant” for his work – only the second farmer ever to be so honored. He is also a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, and in February 2010, he was invited to the White House to join First Lady Michelle Obama in launching “Let’s Move!” her signature leadership program to reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity in America. In May 2010, Time magazine named Will to the Time 100 World’s Most Influential People.

Growing Power is a national nonprofit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds, and the environments in which they live, by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities. Growing Power implements this mission by providing hands-on training, on-the-ground demonstration, outreach, and technical assistance through the development of Community Food Systems that help people grow, process, market, and distribute food in a sustainable manner.

Find out more about Will and Growing Power at www.growingpower.org.

The Energy Fair is held in Custer, WI just seven miles east of Stevens Point. For more information about the event, contact the Midwest Renewable Energy Association at 715-592-6595 or visit the website: www.midwestrenew.org.