On Tuesday, June 12th Bob Dascanio, his wife Jo, their daughter Maria and Wayne McAuliffe our Volunteer Program Manager were guests of the Kraft Foundation at Gillette Stadium where Bob was awarded a 2018 Myra Kraft Community MVP Award. Bob was selected from a list of over 400 submissions as one of the 26 New Englanders recognized by the Kraft Foundation for exemplary service to their communities. A luncheon and awards ceremony was held to honor and pay tribute to each individual and their contributions to service. We are really proud of the fact that Bob was selected and that we are able to hold up one of our own as a shining example in our community.
If you don’t already know Bob he is our longest serving Team Leader and has volunteered countless hours over the years leading groups in the field. In addition, he has helped to recruit individuals and volunteer groups that continue to give back here at our farms. Like all of our Team Leaders he is always willing to talk about the work that we do and we appreciate having him as an advocate for our work. On top of all of this he has been instrumental in helping his church with a feeding program and regularly can be found volunteering at both the Treasure Valley Scout Reservation and the Ecotarium. How he has found time for all of this work is beyond us, but we are really lucky to have him on our team.
Please join us in congratulating Bob on this momentous award and for all that he has done to advance our mission over the years. Great work Bob!
The beginning of June is always an exciting time here at the farm as our newest crop of interns arrive for the summer. Some of these students may have ended classes one day and the very next day find themselves here at the farm. That’s the type of commitment and drive that these students apply to spending their time here learning while they help us drive our mission forward. Over the summer they will not only be able to dabble in their specific area of interest on our farms but they will also have the opportunity to learn from our staff, partner agencies and many of our regular volunteer visitors. Our hope is that they will leave us with a much more thorough understanding of our work and a vision of how they will apply that to their future. 
Did you know that we grow more than fruits and vegetables on our farms? 
Our recent interns have gone on to do incredible work. Joel, Claire and Matt are just three of many interns making a difference at local nonprofits today. Joel is now the Development Coordinator at Lovin’ Spoonfuls, an organization dedicated to facilitating the rescue and distribution of fresh food that would otherwise be discarded. Claire is now the Outreach Coordinator at Community Science Institute, helping to foster and support environmental monitoring to educate the public about natural resources. And Matt, is now the Marketing & PR Coordinator at Oldways, working to preserve and promote traditional foods. 
-Sunflower Festival-
The theme for last month’s cooking class for 9-12 year olds was The Nutrient Games! We played a board game made by Leanne Matthews, who was an intern last fall. Leanne’s game focuses on different ailments you may encounter in life, like breaking a bone on the playground, having dry skin, or getting hungry halfway through the morning. A certain nutrient is suggested to help with the ailment, and you also collect different foods as you progress around the board. So to heal after a broken bone find foods with calcium, to help your dry skin you look for foods with beta carotene, and to stay full all morning you find foods with fiber. Pairing the ailments with the nutrients that helps cure them advances you around the board towards a healthy future!
Community Harvest Project Blog 