LA GRANDE — Local community leaders on Saturday, April 24, will host Union County FEAST 2021 in collaboration with Oregon Food Bank, and the public can participate.

FEAST is a community conversation about “Food, Education and Agriculture in the community and building Solutions Together” for a more equitable and resilient local food system, according to the press release from Oregon Rural Action, which is helping with the event.

“Although FEAST is traditionally held in person, we are happy to have the opportunity to come together virtually this year,” according to Kagan Koehn, community organizer for Oregon Rural Action. “Conversations about food in our community are too important to be postponed until we can all gather together again in person.”

This year’s event will be online 2-5 p.m. on Saturday and offers the opportunity to hear from local leaders about how the pandemic has affected the people in Union County with discussions on volunteer food distribution events, new capacity for promoting food security through the Northeast Oregon Regional Food Bank and Double Up Food Bucks at the La Grande Farmers Market.

Panelists include Audrey Smith, the coordinator of the regional food bank through Community Connection of Northeast Oregon, Cami Miller of Housing Matters Union County and Ramon Fukuichi of Eastern Oregon Compact of Free Association Alliance National Network.

The idea of the event is to “inspire all to start or continue to work to improve our local food system in Union County,” according to the press release.

After the event there will be an opportunity for community members or groups to apply for a mini grant to support their work that is relevant to food and our community.

To register for the event, visit oregonrural.org or search Facebook for “Union County FEAST.”