header
 
Have you had five servings of fruits and vegetables today? 
 
Have your children had their five servings?
 
 
 
 
Fruits
 
 
 
 
Vegetables
 
 
Volunteers  Welcome
We're developing programs for working with children both in our local schools and on our site and need many helping hands to work with our kids. 
 
We also need volunteers for working in the gardens, both supervising and hands on. Join us for fun and exercise.
 
 Call Mary Ann 882 9292 for information.
 
 
 
     Help Wanted:
       Sign Maker

 We have a great location with a highly visable sign but we need to make it better. . . .
 
We need to add some flexibility to how we get our messages out.  We can hang another sign under the larger sign saying "Farmer's Market Wednesday" or  "Composting Classes tonight" etc.  These signs need to be lightweight so volunteers can easily place and remove them with changing messages.  Please call Cheryl  882 9801 if you have ideas and can help us with this.
 
 
 

Want to Start

 a Non-Profit?

 
Get ready for the ride because it's much greater than you think!
 
August two years back: 
 
Start with a great idea:Grow Benzie- an initiative in self reliance using gardening/farming and education to Grow Healthy Children and stronger communities.
 
One of Michigan' most disadvantaged counties is going to take care of it's own - we will not wait for government to "save us" - we are our own best resource - it is the "old fashion way" - people helping people - communities realizing we are only as strong as our weakest link - we take care of our own by education, providing opportunities, and providing hope.

Find a great location:  "Big Blue" - multi purpose building, Green houses with high visibility, acreage with space for gardens and education.
 
Get a commitment: A small group underwrote the facility purchase - formed, filed and received nonprofit status in record time, and then the fun began.
 
Fast forward eighteen months and $100,000, and over 8,000 volunteer hours later we have momentum and the vision is starting to be realized - what a learning experience!

Define the vision:
 
Visionaries think - non-profits prosper based on "doers".  Donors give to well organized, successful charities, not just great idealism.
 
The vision has been better defined - the building now meets a hundred different building codes we never knew about, and we have a huge "Big Event" scheduled for the weekend of July 24, we have expanded our Board, we have a Farmer's Market scheduled for every Wednesday morning starting in June, we have gardens plotted, and we are starting educational programs to direct our children to better eating habits and wellness in general.
 
It has been an adventure - blood, sweat and more than a few tears, but we are almost there - your help is needed, as always, in so many ways but Grow Benzie is now more than a dream - it is a reality.
 
We will be able to impact our children - with better nutrition, better eating habits, improved wellness and life skills.

Keep the Momentum Going:
 
Grow Benzie - an idea grounded in helping our children, and showing our community a better way.
 
Thank you for your support - together it can happen!
 
Contacting Us.
 
Many of you may have wondered how to get in touch with us.  We do have a phone at the Grow Benzie site, but rather than publish the number and have you get a cute little message saying "we're away from our desk right now, we'll call you as soon as we can", we'd rather you know that we don't have someone there all the time and are working on a volunteer schedule to rotate "phone duty".  We are revising our website as well and hope to have it available soon. 
 
We're using email as our major means for communication right now and if you know someone who would like to receive our newsletter updates, please forward their email address to us.