Tag: Backyard Growers Program

Hey Joey – We rocked our fundraiser – could you post this on your blog? Thanks! Lara

Backyard Growers Program SURPASSES FUNDRAISING GOAL! Reaching $8,196!

We launched our campaign on May 15^th with the goal of raising $7,500 in 30 days. On May 26^th—just 12 days later!—we surpassed our goal at $8,196! 100 people donating $8,196 in 12 days! That comes out to an average of $683 per day!

That’s a lot of excitement and commitment around school gardens in Gloucester!

And why have we been so successful? Because of YOU! Here are some of the awesome people who have donated to our campaign—We have:

• A zillion moms, dads and grandparents from every elementary school in the district! Thanks Stephanie O’Neil of West Parish and Melissa Gillis of Veterans’ and Marty & Michelle DelVecchio of East Gloucester just to name a few.
• Community leaders like Julie LaFontaine of The Open Door and J Harrison of The Food Project.
• Gloucester folk who believe in our work!—thanks Carol & Hugo Burnham, Carol Ackerman, and Mari Martin to name a few.
• The Beeman School PTO, who has seen school gardens in action and know it’s a fabulous investment!
• Civic-minded restaurant owners like Mark McDonough of Alchemy and Latitude 43 and Ken & Nicole Duckworth of Duckworth’s Bistrot.
• Backyard Growers Program alumni like Phoebe Potts, Jane Cunningham, and Ann Olson.
• Backyard Growers Program volunteer garden mentors, Chip Norton, Ann Lasman, and Suzanne Gosselin, who not only give their time, but support our fundraising campaign as well.

Some special thank yous to:

• Douglas Orre of Rockport for his very generous matching dollar donation to our campaign.
• All of my friends and family far and wide who believe in this work and who want to make it happen for Gloucester even though they don’t live here.
• Nikki Bogin, our very own Cape Ann Farmers’ Market manager.
• Jim Dowd, for all his time as my on-line-fundraising-coach-extraordinaire.
• Stevens Brosnihan, for putting up with his wife throughout this fundraising campaign.
• Willa and Beatrix Brosnihan for being the fabulous stars of our fundraising video.

The campaign is still open! It is still possible to make a donation! Anything we receive now helps us offset our costs, add bells and whistles to our original plans, and build upon the future sustainability of school gardens in Gloucester. What will we do with more funding?

• Buy harvest totes and salad spinners for each school for our district-wide salad day.
• Provide our FoodCorps Service Member with her very own supply budget for the after school program at Veterans’ School.
• Truck in some fresh, gorgeous compost to top-off all the garden beds in the fall, and purchase next year’s seeds.
• Create new, fabulous partnerships in the community.

Support us today! Click here to visit our fundraising video and campaign page!

Thank you!
-Lara Lepionka