Annual Membership Meeting
Project Grow's annual membership meeting was held on October 13th at 7pm at the Leslie Nature House in the Leslie Science Center. About twenty people attended. At the beginning of the meeting, board president Marcella Trautmann reviewed many of Project Grow's accomplishments for the year. Highlights included: A balanced budget for two years running; a new hoophouse built as a joint effort with Selma Cafe and Dawn Farm; hiring a new Managing Director; opening of a new garden site at West Park; more volunteer involvement thanks to volunteer Volunteer Coordinator and board member Lucas DiGia.
The second part of the meeting involved questions and answers. The third and final portion of the meeting was to elect board members. Four candidates were running and were unanimously elected: Dave Corsa, re-elected after a 2 year term begun in 2009; Marcella Trautmann, appointed to fill the seat of board member who resigned in 2010; Nicole Premo and Joet Reoma were both elected for the first time. Terms last for three years.
The meeting was followed by a board meeting where board officers were elected by the new board. Marcella Trautmann was re-elected as president, Dave Corsa was re-elected as secretary and Eric Meves was re-elected as treasurer. Lucas DiGia was elected as vice-president, a officer position that had not previously been filled. Board officer terms last one year.
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Potato Pledge Drop Off
If you received seed potatoes as part of Project Grow's Potato Pledge this Spring, you can donate the potatoes you grew for charity in three ways. - Weigh the potatoes, donate them to your favorite food charity, and send the weight and the name of the charity to info@projectgrowgardnes.org.
- Drop off the potatoes at Downtown Home and Garden. There is a big drop off crate on your left just as you pull into the drive through. We will stop in on Wednesday mornings to weigh the potatoes and pass them on to Food Gatherers.
- Drop off the potatoes directly to Food Gatherers. Please tell the people you give them to that they were grown as part of Project Grow's Potato Pledge. Food Gatherers will keep a tally of the weight of the potatoes donated this way.
That's all there is to it. Project Grow and all the food charities thank you for your help! |
Volunteer of the Month It can be hard to pick the volunteer of the month sometimes, but it can also be incredibly easy when volunteers are stepping up and taking charge. Our volunteer of the month for October, Natalie Murray, did just that. She has been active all season in helping us at the Leslie Science Center where she lead a team of volunteers to create the new Ornamental Garden. Even as the season is ending, Natalie is working as a part of our grant writing team and helping us make plans for a new garden next season.
Natalie grew up near Kalamazoo, MI and went to college at UC Santa Barbara. She graduated with a BA in Cultural Anthropology with an emphasis on world food systems and the environment. She loves living in Ann Arbor now, and appreciates everything volunteering with Project Grow has to offer. Natalie joined to become more active in the community, and has learned a great deal about plants and how to care for them. She even says she "secretly enjoys weeding." (I now know what I'll be asking of her next spring).
We are so glad that Natalie is continuing to volunteer through the off season, and believe that she will help us do great things! When Natalie isn't gardening, she enjoys running, grocery shopping, cooking, and playing with kitties. Natalie isn't sure of what career path she will take, but is sure that it involves working with people and supporting communities. I can't think of a better way to figure it out than through volunteering! Thank you Natalie!
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Volunteering as a Year Round Activity Thank you again to all the volunteers that have made this an amazing season. The energy and enthusiasm has us gearing up for next season and thinking about how we can improve our volunteer activities and further the mission of Project Grow. We need your help to keep the momentum going, and that includes working and planning when we're not in the garden. We have much work to do planning events, writing grants, educating the community, making seedbombs, and working with university students while they're still in town. If you are a gardener interested in making an impact in your organization, or someone that simply wants to volunteer their time there are many opportunities. Please contact Lucas at volunteer@projectgrowgardens.org to hear more about them! |
Gardens Closing for the Season
Project Grow annual gardens closed October 15th and, for a few sites which opened late, October 22nd. All the gardens have been cleaned up at this point and if the weather ever dries out, Kevin will get them tilled. Perennial gardeners may still have crops in their plots, but we still ask them to tidy up for the winter.
Despite the gardens closing, Project Grow's board, volunteers and staff remain surprisingly busy over the winter. In fact, February through June is probably our busiest time of year. Even before January we will plan what to grow at the plant sale, package seeds for sale at People's Food Co-op, plan classes for 2012, update our registration software and more. We will keep you informed of everything that is going on through the newsletter and other e-mail. This is also a great time for you to contact us with suggestions, garden pictures or anything you like. Send any of these to info@projectgrowgardens.org, we would love to hear from you!
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Thanks to Outgoing Board Members Two board members of Project Grow stepped down from office this year, Andrew Comai and Damaris Sufulko. Project Grow depends on the active participation of its board members to succeed as an organization and these two will be missed, for their creativity, hard work and commitment to Project Grow. We thank them for their service and support and wish happy gardening, now that they have more time to spend on their gardens! Andy served on the board for two years, during which time he successfully worked to create a Project Grow site at Dicken School and to develop a gardening program for its children. Potatoes and garlic, among other vegetables, were grown in the school's plot and were served at Dicken's annual harvest dinner. When he isn't gardening with the students or acting as site coordinator at Dicken, he gardens at his perennial plot at Greenview, where he has been a mainstay for years. As a board member, he created the Potato Pledge Program, where gardeners are given free potatoes to grow, with the promise that they give back a portion of their harvest to Food Gatherers. It has been a popular program among our gardeners, who has donated hundreds of pounds of potatoes over the two years of its existence. Damaris has been a board member for six years and has worked tirelessly during that time to assure the well-being of Project Grow. She has chaired the Events Committee for many years, ensuring that the annual Plant Sales and Tomato Tastings are carried out smoothly. She has done so by generously offering us the use of her equipment and employing her organizational and technical skills. She has been a perennial gardener at County Farm for many years and serves as one of the site coordinators, with special responsibility for equipment and their service. |
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