Dear Veggielutionaries,
At the beginning of every refreshing workday – with the sun rising from its night’s sleep and the sky arching above our urban landscape – a community comes together. Smiles spread as hugs are exchanged, the air is filled with hellos – evoking an incredible sense of warmth, a sense of belonging to a shared space and mission.
Our volunteers represent the diverse demographic makeup of our San Jose community, comprising locals, students, families, working professionals, adults, youths as well as various cultural communities. We come together every week to work together, to build a healthier and more equitable community in San Jose.
Our volunteers carry the very life and spirit of our shared urban farm – their hands, hard-work, persistence, and commitment have tended the roots from our very beginning to the fruits of our successes. They have prepared our land for agricultural use, planted the seeds and nurtured sprouts, renewed our compost resources, prepared delicious workday feasts, helped with community events and fundraising, and harvested the bounty of our Valley’s delight at Emma Prusch Farm Park.
With your generous contribution, Veggielution can continue to open hearts and minds to healthy food and community, especially during a time of economic difficulties and social uncertainties. Please help support not only a growing farm community, but a movement to ensure a healthier and more vibrant society.
How Veggielution Grew
For those of you who are new to Veggielution, let’s look back for a moment to see how far we’ve come. It all started in 2007 when we pulled together a group of San Jose State University students that wanted to learn how to garden. We put up fliers downtown asking if people would let us garden in their yards and offered to share the harvest with them. We got a much bigger response than we expected, and we soon started up a few backyard gardens.
As we went along our vision got bigger, and though we loved our backyard hosts, we realized it was time to draw on a community beyond college students. When we learned about the 10-acre space at Emma Prusch Farm Park in East San Jose – a spacious plot sitting unused in the heart of our urban landscape, we knew Veggielution had found its home.
We broke ground in 2008 on a quarter-acre parcel that regulars have come to know it as the Original Plot. In June 2009, thanks to an agreement with the City of San Jose, we cleared and prepared an additional acre at the farm—a lot of work that once again was made possible by our large group of dedicated volunteers. We marked that pivotal moment with a groundbreaking ceremony featuring Aztec dancers to bless the land and a plow pulled by a draft horse to reflect the diverse and enriching heritage of our Valley of Heart’s Delight. By the end of last year, we’d grown nearly 4,000 pounds of food and distributed nearly 3,000 pounds to the hungry and the rest to our volunteers.
Veggielution has grown exponentially with the support of thousands of volunteers, the Emma Prusch Foundation, and the City of San Jose. We’ve embraced our values as a way of life: building community, embracing diversity, empowering youth, and creating a sustainable food system in Santa Clara Valley.
VeggieYouth
VeggieYouth is a new program that we’re very excited about, and we hope you can help us ensure that it continues. In Fall 2009, Veggielution ran a pilot session aimed at creating a safe space for high school youth to spend time outside connecting with their local food system and with each other. The Spring 2010 After-school Program is now in session with a great group of high school students drawn from the East Side Union High School District and other local schools.
The fifteen diverse youth participate in team building games, educational workshops, farm work, cooking and communal activities. They also integrate with the broader farm community, where participants of all ages serve as positive role models. Our hope is that it will be a transformative experience for them, turning them into community leaders excited about healthy living and sustainable agriculture. They learn skills beyond farming that will help them become successful in college and careers.
“I like gardening and planting things, especially corn. I used to do it when we lived in a house,” says Manny, 17, a Yerba Buena High School student and VeggieYouth participant. To him, Veggielution is a place where he can “learn agriculture so that one day I can get a patch of land, plant crops for myself, my family and maybe to sell. I could learn how to survive.”
Manny plans to major in Anthropology and concentrate in Mayan Studies in college. “The Mayan people are a very agricultural people. They believe that we came from corn, so they are very connected to what they eat. I feel like if I’m connected to the earth I can be more connected to them,” says Manny, who, like many in Santa Clara Valley, comes from an agricultural family.
“I think it’s also about community,” says Travis, 16, a Leland High School student and VeggieYouth participant. “Just getting together with people is always a great way to make friends, and we’re getting stuff done that we know will help our community.”
The Future at Veggielution
In addition to a summer VeggieYouth session and the continued strengthening of that program, our Veggielution Community Farm has a lot of plans. We have a brand new flock of chicks who will start laying eggs this fall. We are strengthening our Workday Leader Program, especially recruiting bilingual volunteers. We also need supplies and infrastructure, such as building a processing area, a cooling shed, seed, farm machinery, and a delivery truck. Truly, every amount helps. We deeply appreciate any way you can help sustain us. Please have a look at the levels of support below, and give as much as you can.
Worm regards,
Amie Frisch and Mark Anthony Medeiros, Co-founders
What your dollars could support:
$1000 – 3 participants in VeggieYouth after school program
$600 – 1 participant in VeggieYouth summer program
$250 – 200 lbs fresh produce donated to those in need
$125 – 100 lbs fresh produce donated to those in need
$75 – chicken feed for 1 month
$25 – a new shovel or rake
$10 – seed for 4 rows of vegetables
Click here to donate by credit card now!
PO Box 1632
make your check out to “William James Association” and in the note write “Veggielution”
