The Blog of Rubicon Programs

Greetings from Fred Earl

2007-09-29T12:58:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, I am glad that I had the opportunity to come to Rimini Italy to experience San Patrignano, Squisito. It has been a life changing experience. The people here have welcomed me with love. I have been able to share with many about Rubicon bakery.
I hope that I can let go of the excitement by Monday so that I could return to you all. There is lots of food and entertainment. I’m so excited. See you all soon with lots of pictures and stories to share.
Fred Earl

Hello Team- Cassandra McElveen

2007-09-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

Hello team, just wanted to let you hear a little about what I have experienced here. The food is great. The people are amazing. I’ve have a chance to see team work, in full force, on a different and unbelievable level.
There are other organizations here that have also been very impressive. I can’t wait to share with you. Last, but not the least. They have two hour lunch, imagine that in the Bay Area. See you all soon.
Cassandra McElveen

A bakery with prisoners as the bakers

2007-09-28T13:13:00.000-07:00

In Italy, the award winning bakery Rebus works with felons both during and post incarceration as the workforce. They have heard of Rubicon and are eager to meet with us on Saturday to share stories about the work.

We are amazed by the similar work being done round the world and by the awareness of our work and the interest in what we do.

We are in awe of what is possible, and the very large number of simpatico organizations both small and large using business as a direct way to address poverty, drug abuse, and the "abandoned" of the world. We are in good company here at the "good food" arena and are proud to be one with our international colleagues.

More about San Patrignano

2007-09-28T12:55:00.001-07:00

The more we see, the more we realize how amazing this place is. In addition to hosting Italy’s leading food festival, Squisito, which this year is highlighting social programs that use food to address inequity (thus Rubicon’s presence), the San Patrignano community runs multiple high quality businesses:

There is a dairy farm on premises which make several award winning cheeses
There is a carpentry business that manufactures high end cabinets primarily used to outfit yachts
There is a winery which produces numerous varietals that are shipped internationally
There is wrought iron foundry which creates both sculptural and architectural products
There is a horse breeding farm which raises and trains horses for international horse jumping competitions. Last year their team won a world championship. There is an enormous jumping course on the campus that is the site of a major annual competition
There is the leading private hospital for the whole district which specializes in HIV/AIDS services. Originally created for the residents who were former IV drug users who became diagnosed in the 1980’s in the early days of the epidemic, it has become the treatment center of choice for the community at large because of the high quality of care
All the energy for the entire community is created at the co-generation plant which runs on the methane created by the farms and waste water treatment plan.

All of this is done by a non governmental organization supported by its own businesses and donations with no government support at all!

Rubicon in Afghanistan?

2007-09-28T12:55:00.000-07:00

The booth next to Rubicon’s here at the amazing Squisito conference in San Patrignano is run by an Afghani organization that produces and promotes saffron grown in Afghanistan as an alternative to opium. Turns out that high quality, organic saffron on the international market brings a better price than opium. What they need is access to international markets with their product.

We are amazed by their creativity and bravery, but they want us to set up a Rubicon in Afghanistan. “We saw your CNN documentary and we know that the kinds of people you serve at Rubicon are very similar to the dispossessed, unemployed in Afghanistan,” they said. "If you could bring your credibility, knowledge and resources you would have a big impact on so many people”.

And we thought our strategic plan to expand geographically might mean the South Bay…

The folks from "Fifteen" : other guests here at Squisito

2007-09-27T23:25:00.001-07:00

Imagine a three story kitchen, each floor large enough to easily accommodate one hundred people working at dozens and dozens of stations. That's what it takes to prepare 2,000 high quality meals three times a day. As we toured during a relative break in the action we came upon people shucking the just harvested clams and mussels, another group getting the freshly grown vegetables ready, and then we came to a large group gathered around seemingly just engaged in peeling garlic and onions. But these were not just garlic peelers.

These were the guest chefs, staff and program participants from Jamie Oliver (the Naked Chef) restaurant Fifteen in London

A bit of background on Fifteen (from their website): In 2002, Jamie Oliver combined two ambitions: to open a top class restaurant and to give disadvantaged youngsters the chance to gain professional training that would set them up for an independent, inspired and productive life. Five years on, Fifteen is still achieving both, improving and expanding all the time.
This social enterprise has entertained hundreds of thousands of people who have loved our fantastic food; their custom and support has directly helped transform the lives of our apprentices.

The interaction amongst the folks from San Patrignano and the guests from Fifteen was great; in broken Italian and English sharing cooking tidbits, everyone watching the Fifteen head chef in action as he taught as he cooked. All in the relative quiet before the storm in the kitchen around 3pm.

When Andrea Muccioli and I started talking about Squisito last January I was eager to connect Rubicon with San Patrignano, but I had no idea how great and sweeping an event Squisito could be. This is one invitation that was well worth accepting

The Rubicon team arrives at San Patrignano

2007-09-27T13:07:00.000-07:00

Fred, Cassandra and Rick (your narrator today) have arrived in San Patrignano, just outside of Rimini.

All of us are in awe of the community that has been created at this amazing social enterprise. Fred and Cassandra arrived just in time for lunch...

Lunch means 2,000 people sharing a meal at the same time in what may be the world's most amazing dining room. A massive wooden roof, built like an ark turned upside down, spans a room without any posts. Situated on the top of a hill in farm country and surrounded on 360 degrees by a ribbon of windows that looks out on the countryside, the room is an amazing center of this community.

As Fred commented; "I don't know what is more inspiring; how well coordinated the process is of everyone coming in, food being served and cleared, or how with just three hand claps by anyone in the joyous, boisterous hall there is almost immediate silence in respect to the person who has clapped who wants to offer their personal thanks for the support of the community."

During our brief pre-event orientation Fred, Cassandra and I toured a part of this community. We saw the on-campus hospital, gym, theater, winery, and horse farm. We heard about the nearby olive oil growing and pressing facilities. We got a whiff of the hog farm. We walked around the most beautifully constructed campus we could have imagined, and we have just scratched the surface.

At our Rubicon booth we will share the stories of our work with the thousands who come to the festival. Our booth neighbors include an organization from Afghanistan who is growing saffron as an alternative to opium, organizations from Myanmar and Thailand with food programs as economic development innovations, and more which we will learn about over the next three days.

In the main kitchen (more later to describe a kitchen that serves 2,000 people three times a day) one of the guests, England's "Naked Chef," has brought a team from his London restaurant to participate in the event.

There is so much more to report and we will over the next three days. Pictures to come as well.

09.20.07 : The beginning of an amazing adventure

2007-09-20T12:46:00.000-07:00

Dear friends of Rubicon,

Rubicon's international reputation as a leader in social entrepreneurship, and the day to day work of Rubicon serving low income, disabled, homeless and other at risk communities in San Francisco' Bay Area have often seemed like two worlds in different galaxies.

Starting next week an amazing adventure, and a great opportunity, will provide a bridge between the two worlds of Rubicon.

Three representatives of Rubicon, Fred Earl, lead driver extraordinaire for Rubicon Bakery, Cassandra McElveen, a lynchpin in Rubicon's Workforce Services department, and Rick Aubry, Rubicon's peripatetic President will fly to Rimini, Italy to participate in the international "Squisito" festival. The festival celebrates how food projects around the world that create great products are using food as a tool to change the world for the better.

Though Rick is often asked to present Rubicon's work in many places (over the past two years alone in literally six continents), the folks who do the work every day in Richmond have never had the opportunity to directly tell the Rubicon story, to experience first hand people in other organizations around the world are solving the same problems of inequity, poverty, and access to independent lives they do at Rubicon, or to experience directly the high regard and respect with which Rubicon is held throughout the world.

Next week, in Rimini, Italy, Fred and Cassandra will join Rick in representing Rubicon. Thanks to the generous financial support from San Patrignano www.sanpatrignano.org an amazing fellow social enterprise in Italy, Rubicon folks will be on panels, staff a booth with Rubicon wares, present to the 1,000s of attendees of Squisito, the international press, etc. how we are changing the world for the better.

Starting next Wednesday, we will be blogging live from the site of Squisito in Rimini Italy. We hope that friends of Rubicon will tune in to the amazing experiences from our trip we will share.
For Cassandra this is her first international trip. For Fred this will be his first trip on an airplane anywhere. For Rick the ability to have colleagues share the love Rubicon receives at such events is a great opportunity to link his job as Rubicon missionary with the folks who actually make the Rubicon dream come alive every day.