Thank you for all of your hard work!
Here is our personal Main Street Community Garden message of thanks and our donation total for the season:
Dear Main Street Growers,
Thank you all so much for donating your time and talents to help feed the hungry in Mesa County. You donated 375 pounds of gorgeous produce to the Community Food Bank, Catholic Outreach, Homeward Bound, Mesa County Supplemental Foods, and the Western Slope Food Bank of the Rockies. So much of the harvest this year was really healthy produce that other gardeners weren't providing - kale, china choy, arugula, chard, etc. With a few recipes provided along with the greens, your produce expanded the repertoire of the Homeward Bound kitchen.
The garden is such a special place in downtown GJ. Almost every time I was at the garden, I was stopped by a passerby with questions and compliments. The fact that you as a group have made it a special point to donate a portion of the harvest really attests to the community spirit of the garden.
Thank you all again,
Amanda
Grow Another Row
www.growanotherrow.org
Here is the message that went out to the entire Grow Another Row fleet of gardeners, volunteers, etc.:
Hi Grow Another Row Growers, Volunteers and Friends,
Our season has officially come to an end. We grew and delivered 6707 pounds of fresh fruits and veggies to Catholic Outreach, the Community Food Bank, Homeward Bound, Mesa County Supplemental Foods, the Salvation Army, the Senior Center, St Benedict's Place, and the Western Slope Food Bank of the Rockies. This beats last year's total of 5936, which is pretty good considering how sluggish our gardens were this season. We had 21 different growers participate, but this doesn't include people who dropped off produce at the CSU Extension office, the individual employees of Refrigeration Hardware Supply, and the gardeners with the Main Street Community Garden. The variety of produce was amazing: asian pears, tomatillos, okra, and celery to name a few exciting donations.
Eighteen volunteers picked up, delivered, and harvested the produce. This year we got more requests for harvesting projects than we could handle. I was thrilled to partner with the Mesa County Sheriff's Office Work-Ender Program. This alternative sentencing program allows people to serve their time by working for non-profit, charitable, and tax supported agencies on weekdays and weekends and still be able to retain their job and support their families. Over two hot days, they harvested 2,619 pounds of tomatoes and peppers from the CSU Research Fields. I hope next year we can continue this relationship and meet more requests to harvest produce from local fields and orchards.
All of our growers and volunteers have been incredibly dedicated, and I am so thankful for your participation. I'd like to recognize one amazing volunteer - Nicole Sizemore. Nicole delivered 1093 pounds of food this year. She personally harvested at least 300 pounds of produce from partner growers. She and her husband started a Grow Another Row garden and donated 34 pounds from their own backyard. Not bad for first-time gardeners! She did the bulk of this heavy work when she was 8-9 months pregnant and used every opportunity to teach her 2 year old daughter the value of community service. This isn't all Nicole did. In April, she designed our new brochures and found a donor to print 300+ color copies. With the brochures, we recruited new growers, volunteers, community partners, and donors. One very sweet man sent us $100 after running across our brochure at Bookcliff Gardens. We've used some of the money for coolers and scales. The rest we'll save for next year. Nicole purchased seeds, packaged them up in smaller bags, and designed beautiful cards with growing directions and a description of GAR. We used these cards to successfully spread the news about GAR. Finally, Nicole was a one-man publicity machine. She recruited new growers and volunteers from every avenue of her life -- play groups, work-relationships and even jury duty. I know I am forgetting something because at times I could hardly keep up with her energy and drive, but it is safe to say that GAR would not have grown and been successful this year without her.
Thank you to all of you who participated this year. I wish you all could have all heard the wonderful compliments and thank yous from the organizations who received the produce. Their warm response was easily worth the hard work this season. I will soon be sending you individual totals of how much you grew or delivered this year. Until then, you have my heart-felt thanks and admiration for your community service.
Warmest Regards,
Amanda
Grow Another Row
www.growanotherrow.org
Our season has officially come to an end. We grew and delivered 6707 pounds of fresh fruits and veggies to Catholic Outreach, the Community Food Bank, Homeward Bound, Mesa County Supplemental Foods, the Salvation Army, the Senior Center, St Benedict's Place, and the Western Slope Food Bank of the Rockies. This beats last year's total of 5936, which is pretty good considering how sluggish our gardens were this season. We had 21 different growers participate, but this doesn't include people who dropped off produce at the CSU Extension office, the individual employees of Refrigeration Hardware Supply, and the gardeners with the Main Street Community Garden. The variety of produce was amazing: asian pears, tomatillos, okra, and celery to name a few exciting donations.
Eighteen volunteers picked up, delivered, and harvested the produce. This year we got more requests for harvesting projects than we could handle. I was thrilled to partner with the Mesa County Sheriff's Office Work-Ender Program. This alternative sentencing program allows people to serve their time by working for non-profit, charitable, and tax supported agencies on weekdays and weekends and still be able to retain their job and support their families. Over two hot days, they harvested 2,619 pounds of tomatoes and peppers from the CSU Research Fields. I hope next year we can continue this relationship and meet more requests to harvest produce from local fields and orchards.
All of our growers and volunteers have been incredibly dedicated, and I am so thankful for your participation. I'd like to recognize one amazing volunteer - Nicole Sizemore. Nicole delivered 1093 pounds of food this year. She personally harvested at least 300 pounds of produce from partner growers. She and her husband started a Grow Another Row garden and donated 34 pounds from their own backyard. Not bad for first-time gardeners! She did the bulk of this heavy work when she was 8-9 months pregnant and used every opportunity to teach her 2 year old daughter the value of community service. This isn't all Nicole did. In April, she designed our new brochures and found a donor to print 300+ color copies. With the brochures, we recruited new growers, volunteers, community partners, and donors. One very sweet man sent us $100 after running across our brochure at Bookcliff Gardens. We've used some of the money for coolers and scales. The rest we'll save for next year. Nicole purchased seeds, packaged them up in smaller bags, and designed beautiful cards with growing directions and a description of GAR. We used these cards to successfully spread the news about GAR. Finally, Nicole was a one-man publicity machine. She recruited new growers and volunteers from every avenue of her life -- play groups, work-relationships and even jury duty. I know I am forgetting something because at times I could hardly keep up with her energy and drive, but it is safe to say that GAR would not have grown and been successful this year without her.
Thank you to all of you who participated this year. I wish you all could have all heard the wonderful compliments and thank yous from the organizations who received the produce. Their warm response was easily worth the hard work this season. I will soon be sending you individual totals of how much you grew or delivered this year. Until then, you have my heart-felt thanks and admiration for your community service.
Warmest Regards,
Amanda
Grow Another Row
www.growanotherrow.org
