Help Keep Our Greenhouse Growing
Donation protected
Did you know that 501c3 public charities are required to receive a large part of their funding from the public in order to maintain their charitable status? Virtual fundraising during a pandemic has made nonprofit operation more challenging than ever. We are proud to say that we have not only sustained but continued to serve and grow despite the challenges. Happy Roots has been able to do more than we ever imagined thanks to grants and community donations.
Since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020, we have been able to gift over 200 garden kits (raised beds, soil, plants, seeds, tools and tutelage) to local students, families, and individuals in need. Some gardens went to schools and community centers. We are now seeing students we worked with in preschool in elementary school, elementary school in middle school, and families on their 3rd and 4th seasons of gardening. One family who started out with zero gardening experience has turned their backyard into an all-out urban farm in just one year's time. This isn't a one-time deal. People are sticking with it.
Happy Roots began in 2017 with one school greenhouse and one community park. Now, and by the end of the 2021-22 school year, we will be working with twenty Rowan-Salisbury Schools on school garden programming with ten other neighborhood, community, Health & Rehab and retirement home gardens. Our goal was always to reach every Rowan Salisbury School. And we're almost there! Every school should have a successful school garden program, and we're here (with the knowledge, skills, labor and resources) to make that happen.
After a trying yet productive two years, we still have some major projects and extra expenses coming up. Henderson Independent High School greenhouse was our very first project and remains the heart of this operation. It's been announced that this school will be closing in the very near future due to infrastructure. We cannot and will not lose this momentum or progress that we have all made. We cannot lose a resource like this greenhouse which has been one of the main reasons for much of this program’s success. Serving these many locations though, we are due for bigger space anyways. It is time for us to grow... but in a different way.
Happy Roots has been blessed with an incredible opportunity to acquire a 30' x 96' commercial greenhouse that would significantly boost our production and enable us to serve more schools and individuals in our community. With this great opportunity comes extra expenses... including permits, tool rentals for disassembly and reassembly, running electricity and water, manpower, materials including new plastic, ground stakes, ground cover, shade cloth, any nuts or bolts that might get broken or dropped along the way, and especially food for our dedicated and hardworking volunteers helping move this thing.
It's a done deal and it's already happening, but now more than ever we need your support. Since we're missing our annual sponsors and fundraisers... Would you donate that money you would have paid for a festival admission ticket? Would you donate that money you would have spent on beer? Would you just want to tip Happy Roots for good service this year? Would you want to invest in this epic move and to take this program to the next level?
Now is the time. Let's do this thing!
Since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020, we have been able to gift over 200 garden kits (raised beds, soil, plants, seeds, tools and tutelage) to local students, families, and individuals in need. Some gardens went to schools and community centers. We are now seeing students we worked with in preschool in elementary school, elementary school in middle school, and families on their 3rd and 4th seasons of gardening. One family who started out with zero gardening experience has turned their backyard into an all-out urban farm in just one year's time. This isn't a one-time deal. People are sticking with it.
Happy Roots began in 2017 with one school greenhouse and one community park. Now, and by the end of the 2021-22 school year, we will be working with twenty Rowan-Salisbury Schools on school garden programming with ten other neighborhood, community, Health & Rehab and retirement home gardens. Our goal was always to reach every Rowan Salisbury School. And we're almost there! Every school should have a successful school garden program, and we're here (with the knowledge, skills, labor and resources) to make that happen.
After a trying yet productive two years, we still have some major projects and extra expenses coming up. Henderson Independent High School greenhouse was our very first project and remains the heart of this operation. It's been announced that this school will be closing in the very near future due to infrastructure. We cannot and will not lose this momentum or progress that we have all made. We cannot lose a resource like this greenhouse which has been one of the main reasons for much of this program’s success. Serving these many locations though, we are due for bigger space anyways. It is time for us to grow... but in a different way.
Happy Roots has been blessed with an incredible opportunity to acquire a 30' x 96' commercial greenhouse that would significantly boost our production and enable us to serve more schools and individuals in our community. With this great opportunity comes extra expenses... including permits, tool rentals for disassembly and reassembly, running electricity and water, manpower, materials including new plastic, ground stakes, ground cover, shade cloth, any nuts or bolts that might get broken or dropped along the way, and especially food for our dedicated and hardworking volunteers helping move this thing.
It's a done deal and it's already happening, but now more than ever we need your support. Since we're missing our annual sponsors and fundraisers... Would you donate that money you would have paid for a festival admission ticket? Would you donate that money you would have spent on beer? Would you just want to tip Happy Roots for good service this year? Would you want to invest in this epic move and to take this program to the next level?
Now is the time. Let's do this thing!
Organizer
Ashley Honbarrier
Organizer
Salisbury, NC
