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Hope's Harvest Tickets for Sale
Get your early bird ticket now!
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Early bird tickets are now available for the 6th Annual Hope's Harvest Benefit Dinner Sunday, September 19 at
the Growing Hope Center-- 922 W. Michigan Avenue in
Ypsilanti, MI. This delicious event is not to be missed! In an effort to save money and make your generous support go further, we will NOT be sending out mailed invitations this year. Get your tickets online now!
Hope's Harvest will celebrate local food sou rces by presenting the work of fantastic local chefs making delicious dishes from Michigan farms in a beautiful urban garden setting. We will be presenting a number of exciting food stations and a beer and wine bar, all while being serenaded with acoustic live music and perusing a large silent auction full of great items.
Featured food and beverage providers include: Black Star Farms, L. Mawby, Grange Kitchen & Bar, The Sidetrack, Corner Brewery, Arbor Brewing Company, Eve, Glass House Café & Catering, J. Neil's Mongolian Grille, Zingerman's Creamery, Mity Nice Italian Ice, Beezy's Café, Roos Roast, Silvio's Organic Pizza, Quattro, Chen Chow Brasserie, and The Hamilton Room.
Interested in a free ticket to our biggest event of the year? Volunteer event staff have the opportunity to work for a portion of the
event, then enjoy the rest of the event for free! Contact
jeremy@growinghope.net if you are interested. |
West Willow Summer Garden Program
a success in its second year!
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In partnership with the New West Willow Neighborhood Association (NWWNA), Growing Hope offered its second year of garden and nutrition programming at the West Willow Summer Camp.
 Over the course of the summer, youth learned how to start seeds, plant veggie transplants, water and weed a garden, and much more. At each lesson, campers tried a new fresh fruit or vegetable, often one that they had grown themselves! They also had the opportunity to visit a huge vegetable garden at the Matthaei Botanical Garden.Participation in our garden program at West Willow more than doubled from last year - to just under sixty! We are so excited about our strong and growing relationship with NWWNA and the youth of West Willow. |
Perry Community Garden
Revitalized and bursting with homegrown produce!!!
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| The Perry Learning Garden has undergone a transformation this year, both in name and appearance, becoming the Perry Community Garden - a place where residents near Perry Child Development Center and Parkridge Park can rent a plot to grow fresh and healthy food for the families and their community.
Growing Hope has spearheaded this  process, but we wouldn't have been able to do it without tremendous community support. We have worked with community members, 4-H youth volunteers, and gotten a huge boost from the Ann Arbor YMCA's Youth Volunteer Corps. Collectively, our volunteers have put in over 110 (!) hours at Perry Community Garden this summer.
We also want to give a special thanks to The Lumberjacks Tree Service. They have donated approximately 50 cubic yards of wood chips to Perry, and have been a reliable community partner for us in many of our garden projects.
If you are interested in a plot at Perry Community Garden, you can find an application on our website (bottom of the page). |
Special Thank You to Our Summer VISTAs
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| Our 2010 Summer VISTAs joined the Growing Hope Staff this spring, and their contribution has been enormous! Growing Hope was the host site for 6 Summer VISTAs and we helped facilitate 2 more VISTAs at local urban ag/food security projects - specifically Living Stones Farm and the Food Gatherers' Farm.
Summer VISTAs at the EMU Giving Garden
 | Along with their regular duties of helping to run our urban farm, farmers' markets, and educational programming, they've also banded together once a week to swoop in and help local food organizations enhance their sites. They've built raised beds at Food Gatherers, planted a pollination garden at the Ypsi Food Co-op as part of their local honey project, designed stellar scarecrows at Living Stones Farm, installed beds at the EMU Giving Garden, and helped haul and spread over 25 yards of mulch at Perry Community Garden. Their collective work ethic, and can-do-itness has been a marvel to watch. We will truly miss them as their time with us comes to a close, and we wanted to send out this special E-blast thank you to all of them. Best of luck!
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Growing Hope is Hiring!
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Growing Hope is now hiring for several full time positions. We will be hiring several year-long AmeriCorps*VISTAs for our site as well as for other food security and u rban ag. sites around Washtenaw County. We are also hiring a full time Outreach & Volunteerism Manager. More details can be found on our jobs page. Detailed job descriptions are forthcoming. All inquiries and applications should be submitted to apply@growinghope.net
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News Coverage!
| | | Check out this fun annarbor.com article about Growing Hope. |
Goodbye Karen!
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Growing Hope would like to wish our intrepid program manager, Karen Spangler, a fond (tearful) fare well as she returns to school this fall. Karen started with Growing Hope over two and a half years ago as an AmeriCorps VISTA, and was the firm backbone of our organization. We miss you Karen!
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Growing Hope is the community co-presenter of "The Real Dirt on Farmer John" which kicks off the Stonyfield Sustainability
Film Series on Wednesday, August 25th at 7pm in the Michigan Theater. This film tells the epic t ale of a maverick Midwestern farmer, an outcast in his community, who melds the traditions of family farming with the power of art and free expression. Winner of 31 film festival awards makes its Ann Arbor theatrical premiere. Speakers for an audience Q&A are Richard Andres of Tantre Farm and Community Farm founders Annie Elder and Paul Bantle. Click here for more details and advance tickets. |
GH Director Guest Blogging for Concentrate Media
| | | GH's executive director, Amanda Edmonds, will be guest blogging next week for Concentrate Media. Keep an eye out for her blog, and be sure to check out their video feature on Growing Hope from last month. |
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Growing Hope
Board of Directors
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E. Daniel Ayres
Angela Barbash
Mark Barbieri
Pauline Bigby
Ellen Bunting
Lynne Chaimowitz
Kristen Cuhran
Patty Donahue
Jessica French
Melvin Gaines
David Palmer
Sharon Sheldon
Amanda Maria Edmonds
Executive Director
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Sincerely,
Amanda (Executive Director), Elissa (Program Manager), Liz (Office Manager),
Jeremy (Volunteer Coordinator), Wendy (Community Organizer), Gabe (Youth & Education), JP (Farm Manager) , Ryan (Farmers' Market), Sarah (MSW Intern), and our amazing crew of Summer VISTAs!
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