Volunteer efforts at Re-Vision House Urban Farm in Dorchester will be just one of various local agricultural activities marking World Food Day, Tuesday, October 16th.

· The Re-Vision House farm is still harvesting several late season crops and volunteers from the Mass. Department of Food and Agriculture (DFA) will assist with harvest cleanup, turning the beds and planting a cover crop to prepare for winter. The DFA group will be at the farm, located at 38 Fabyan Street in Dorchester, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.

· In western Mass., DFA volunteers will take on a gleaning project at Hamilton Orchards, Route 202 and West Street in New Salem from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, harvesting plums and apples for local food banks.

· Many of the farmers who participate at the Copley Square farmers' market on Tuesday, 11:00 am to 6:00 pm, are already committed to the concept of sharing as they donate produce weekly to food banks, pantries and shelters in Worcester County, according to Artie Keown, president of the Mass. Association of Roadside Farmstands.

World Food Day is observed each year on October 16 to commemorate the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in 1945. The day, first observed in 1981, aims to heighten public awareness of the plight of the world's hungry and encourage people worldwide to take action against hunger.

Re-Vision House operates a "CSA" (community supported agriculture) program whereby consumers buy "shares" of a farm's harvest before the season begins. CSA members receive a share of what the farm produces throughout the season. (For more information on CSAs, visit http://www.massdfa.org/consumers/csa.htm.)

Re-Vision House is a shelter for mothers in transition and the urban farm project is a joint venture with the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Drumlin Farm in Lincoln. In addition to the farm and greenhouse at Re-Vision House, there is also an educational program in which residents cultivate tilapia fish for food production along with soil free 'aquaponic' plant production of herbs and vegetables grown in floating rafts.

The U.S.Committee for World Food Day is launching a new worldwide educational initiative, the Feeding Minds, Fighting Hunger project which offers lessons for children of all ages. Now on the web at www.feedingminds.org in English, lessons should be available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Italian and Spanish by World Food Day.