Good day everyone!
I just recently posted a diary on this topic and I am hoping this next one has a positive impact on my son's agency's position. You see, his agency applied to the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation for a grant to win an orchard to provide fresh produce to the surrounding community. I guess a little background is due first...
He works for the Children's Home Association of Illinois and is the Site Manager of Scott's Prairie, a farm gifted to them in 2004. The site is 70 acres and has many great features including a 3 acre fishing pond stocked with bluegill, large mouth bass, crappie, and channel catfish, a rock formation dated to the Pennsylvanian period, 5 acres of restored prairie, a low ropes teams course to help build trust, team, self-esteem and leadership skills, a meeting center, and the bread and butter program, the garden and orchard. More below the squiggly...
In the garden, there are eight 55x40' plots for growing everything from asparagus to zucchini. As long as it isn't tropical in nature, they are trying to grow it. The garden is so essential to the mission, "Giving children a childhood and a future by protecting them, teaching them and healing them, and by building strong communities and loving families."
It is essential to fulfilling the mission in what the kids they serve get to experience. He likes to keep it both educational and recreational when having kids in the garden. They're 'playing in the dirt' instead of 'working in the garden.' The kids do everything from cultivating the soil to planting the seeds and plants, tending to the weeds and identifying the different types, all the way to harvesting the produce. After harvest, they separate the day's haul and the harvested produce is bundled or bagged for sale. Then, they sell the produce only to employees inside the agency and do so by setting prices far below the grocery stores to make it worth the while for staff. So the kids get to set prices and put orders together and help other staff deliver those orders to our three main sites. Once all is said and done, they count total revenues for the day and set that aside. I should note that every dollar of revenue from the markets is put right back into the program in the form of equipment, gloves, seeds, etc... Another thing I want to add is that they are working to make this garden program entirely self-sustaining. He has started a seed harvesting program as part of the educational end and it saves them a lot of money when they don't have to buy seed. The garden is also entirely organic. No chemicals are sprayed on any of the plots.
Anyway, after each farmer's market, a couple of kids and he, or another staff will take the remaining produce and they'll have the kids give it to other local non-profits like the Center for Prevention of Abuse or a local food bank. The reason they do all this is because the kids they serve are almost always on the receiving end of charity and this program is a way to help them build character, to let them give back and to see that the work they do makes a difference, not only in their community, but in the lives of others in the same or similar situations as they are.
Another part of this invaluable program is the small orchard they're trying to establish. Right now, they have a few small trees that produce some fruit and a few older ones that are hit and miss. On a bountiful year for the older trees, they will take the apples and pears and make small cups of applesauce to give to donors as a 'thank you' for giving them this experience. So many things they do at the site are so invaluable to serving the mission.
Back to the grant he applied for...
As I said earlier, they applied to the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation in late February, iirc. They liked the application so well that there was a conference call scheduled almost immediately after submitting the application and subsequently placed into the list of 100 finalists. Out of those 100, seventeen will be selected over the spring, summer and fall to win an orchard (minimum of 20 fruit trees.) It is all set up at a website and it is easy as PIE (LOL!) to register and vote. All you need is your name, an email (multiple emails preferred since you can vote once per day per email), and a password of your choosing to register. Also, they won't share your info or load your inbox up with a bunch SPAM messages everyday or whatever. The idea is to accumulate as many votes as you can over the 4 rounds of voting. In round one, the top five vote getters are selected and then round 2 begins. The beauty of this is that their votes carry over into the subsequent rounds so they don't have to start over with each round. As it stands right now, they're in 21st place overall, but they are slowly gaining on five or six other organizations ahead of them. This is where all of you come in. They need some help and a big boost. I know there's a lot of other great causes and ideas this community supports, but this one doesn't cost a thing, is not political in any way, helps some deserving kids, and flat out makes the world a better place. And the nice part is that once registered, it only takes 20-30 seconds to vote with each email and faster if you type quickly. (ha ha)
I'm asking all of you to pitch in and help push them over the top by going to Communities Take Root and voting for Children's Home-Scott's Prairie everyday. Every vote counts and with your help, we all can do something great for a group of kids who really deserve an opportunity to learn more about growing fruit and tending to an orchard.
I believe in every one of you. I've seen the power of this community when it comes together for a common cause. Let's make this happen! Here's the link: http://www.communitiestakeroot.com/...
"One person can make a difference, and everyone should try."
-John F. Kennedy
Sat Jun 02, 2012 at 6:30 PM PT: As of tonight, the Scott's Prairie application is in 12th place. If we can hold that or move up to 8 or 10th, we will certainly win and orchard for those kids.
Thu Aug 30, 2012 at 12:31 PM PT: Just wanted to let people know that we did win that Orchard for Scott's Prairie and thank people who took time to vote. see the results at: www.communitiestakeroot.com click on winners tab. We got over 35,000 votes!