Accessing Healthy, Affordable Food in Rural Illinois: Challenges, Solutions, and Stories

The Western Illinois Museum, in collaboration with the One Book One Community Festival, will hold a community conversation on Accessing Healthy, Affordable Food in Rural Illinois: Challenges, Solutions, and Stories on Tuesday, April 22, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at the Western Illinois Museum. The conversation will focus on four regional initiatives and will be led by community members who have been instrumental in guiding these efforts including John Curtis from Giving Gardens, Chris Merrett from the Illinois Institute of Rural Affairs (IIRA), Sean Parks from the Sustainable Development Center (VASDC), and Robin Wilt, Mayor of Bushnell, Illinois. 

The idea for this community conversation emerged from the 2025 theme for the One Book One Community Festival, Earth: Our Home. One of the selected readings is Robin Wall Kimmerer’s thought-provoking book The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, which promotes the tradition of sharing a garden’s abundance with neighbors—a common practice in rural America.  As Kimmerer writes, this offers access to healthy and affordable food while tying a community together.

With the decline of local, often family-run grocery stores, small rural communities must find solutions to ensure access to fresh, affordable food while addressing the economic impact and rising health concerns. The One Book One Community Festival has created an opportunity to learn and explore these issues in programs like this community conversation.

The conversation will begin with hearing about local initiatives and the various approaches being taken to remove barriers to accessing fresh and affordable food in rural Illinois. Guests are encouraged to join the conversation and share their perspectives alongside city officials, local development agencies, and others working to implement innovative solutions. Their stories will spark discussion, providing deeper insights into the challenges and inspiring new possibilities.

The Western Illinois Museum is a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating a deeper understanding of history, culture, and traditions, sparking curiosity that connects us to the past, each other, and the values that shape our community. As a lively community gathering place, the Museum offers exhibits, an open collection area, lectures, music, and various programs in a historic setting. 

For more information, call 309-837-2750, text 309-837-2613, or email info@wimuseum.org. The Museum is located at 201 S. Lafayette Street, one block south of Macomb’s Courthouse Square. The building is fully accessible and free accessible parking is available.

About the Participants

John Curtis – Founder and executive director of Giving Gardens,
John Curtis is the founder, director and lead gardener at The Giving Gardens, a Macomb-based nonprofit whose mission is to strengthen community by providing access to gardens in every neighborhood.  

John and his partner, Karen Mauldin Curtis (KMC), also serve as coaches and consultants for other nonprofit organizations (as Mauldin Curtis Consulting), helping them to develop strategies and training in board governance, strategic planning and fundraising.  

For more than 25 years, John and KMC operated Barefoot Gardens,  a small farm-based business where they grew vegetables, herbs, flowers and berries and fostered a sense of community among their members.  

John also served on the board and as president of Illinois Stewardship Alliance, a statewide nonprofit that develops policy and advocates for local food initiatives throughout Illinois.   

John received his master’s degree in education from Western Illinois University.  He taught English as a Second Language (ESL) in Beardstown and then for many years at Western Illinois University.  

John also serves as the director of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Macomb.

Chris Merrett – Dean for Innovation and Economic Development and Director of the Illinois Institute for Rural Development, Western Illinois University
Chris Merrett earned his Ph.D. (University of Iowa) in Geography and Planning. He is the Dean for Innovation and Economic Development and the Director of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs (IIRA) at Western Illinois University (WIU). The IIRA is a university-based research, outreach, teaching, and policy center focused on rural development. Merrett also serves as WIU Distinguished University Professor.

Merrett has authored or collaborated on more than 100 publications and has secured over $13 million in external funding from agencies including the USDA, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), and the National Science Foundation.

As a rural policy advocate, Merrett serves on the Illinois Governor’s Rural Affairs Council, which is chaired by the Illinois Lt. Governor. He also serves on the Lt. Governor’s Ag Equity and Food Insecurity advisory board.

Sean Park – Program Manager, Value-Added Sustainable Development Center (VASDC)of the Illinois Institute of Rural Affairs at Western Illinois University
Sean Parks provides technical assistance and training on business plan development and business start-up to cooperatives and other rural businesses in all sectors. He administers IIRA’s overall outreach in the co-op sector. Sean has worked with IIRA since 2010, and his experience also includes ten years as owner-operator of an independent rural grocery store, seven years in operations management for a national corporation, and additional roles as a community college business instructor and a small-town economic development director. Park is a Certified Business Advisor and has completed CooperationWorks! Cooperative Business Development Training Program. He received an MA in Economics from Western Illinois University and a BA in Economics from Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Robin Wilt – Mayor of Bushnell, Illinois
Robin Wilt was raised in Bushnell. Her parents were small business owners in town who instilled the work ethic of giving back to their community. Robin married a fellow Bushnell resident, Mark, and together they raised a son, Mitchell.  Robin worked at Western Illinois University for 30 years and retired in 2015. Robin started work in her community by serving on the Bushnell Park District for eight years, and as president for four of those years. She became involved in City politics first as an Alderman for two years, and then as Mayor for eight years. Giving back to her Community has always been important, whether it is a business, group, or community member.

About the One Book One Community Festival

The One Book One Community idea comes from the American Library Association, and cities and towns across the USA have been adopting—and adapting–the program for more than two decades. Every year participating communities invite residents to read a specific book and gather in small or large groups to discuss it.

To engage children, adolescents, and adults, the Macomb’s OBOC Committee chooses three books on a particular theme and schedules conversations, concerts, and other activities to bring different age groups together around the theme. Events are scheduled by a variety of organizations throughout a given month and offer residents multiple opportunities to get involved. 

Some of the organizations participating in the OBOC Festival, besides the Western Illinois Museum, are the Macomb, Blandinsville, Bushnell, and Colchester Public Libraries, the YMCA, the University of Illinois Extension, area Book Clubs, and Macomb schools.

The 2025 festival books will make it easy for children and adults of all ages to participate in the festival. The books include a picture book, Thank You, Earth: A Love Letter to Our Planet by author and photographer April Pulley Sayre; a graphic novel, Wildheart: The Daring Adventures of John Muir by writer Julie Bertagna and illustrator William Goldsmith; and The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, by author Robin Wall Kimmerer with artist John Burgoyne.

About the Shared Community Action Group

The Shared Community Action (SCA) Group is composed of leaders of civic and religious organizations who first came together as the Moving Macomb Forward Committee. 

The SCA’s goal is to strengthen long-term dialogue and cooperation among the diverse members of the Macomb community. It seeks to develop ways individuals and organizations can contribute to an equitable, just, healthy, and strong community, and to confront barriers that keep community members apart and undermine community-building.

The SCA is committed to working with everyone in Macomb who supports its goals, recognizes the human dignity of each of its residents and visitors, and wants to take up the challenge of an ever-deepening dedication to justice and equity.