Story of the Foodbank Logo
Logo Tale
The Abenaki, People of the Dawnland,(1) were the Native Americans of the southern, central and northern Vermont regions. Knowledge of their customs have been preserved almost exclusively through legends, folklore, and stories. Images and written or recorded information from this culture are rare. But our research uncovered food legends that do exist. They portray beliefs about how the seeds of corn, beens, and squash first arrived from their native Southwest to the costal Northeast some 1,000 years ago.
Well established as a primary food source before the arrival of the Mayflower, corn was considered a gift from the gods delivered by a black bird. The Native Americans of New England refused to kill crows or black birds, no matter how badly they would damage the cornfields. (2)
And so the story goes…
Mon-do-min, an old and lame hunter, was dying from hunger alone on a cold night in a forest shelter. His prayer to the gods of the southern sky was answered when a small, black bird appeared. While roasting his captured gift, he heard a woman’s voice crying. She was lost. In the light of his wigwam he could see that she was injured, with child, and hungry. So he gave her the tiny bird, saying “you eat and live, but I must die. The Great Spirit has spoken. But remember me when you see others alone and perishing. Share with them and the gods will protect you.”
In the dawn, the young woman found Mon-do-min dead. When the Moon of Leaves (June) came, the ground around his grave was covered with green plants unknown to the old hunter’s tribe. The Spirit goes spoke to the tribe, describing the plants as food that will ripen into full ears of grain for all to gather, a gift in remembrance of Mon-do-min’s acts of sharing and nurturing. (3)
The icon of our logo—a black bird—symbolizes the vessel of delivery.
The yellow grain—the gifts that we gather.
Together they represent our mission to GATHER, SHARE, and NURTURE for Vermonters in need.
(1) Colin Calloway, The Abenaki, Chelsea House Publishers, 1989
(2) Thomas Weston, History of the Town of Middlboro, Massachusetts, 1906
(3) Howard S. Russell, Indian New England Before the Mayflower, University Press of New England, 1980
