Garden & Rewards

I first want to thank you all for the support but most of all for your patience. We're working getting the rewards out a fast as we can, so please continue to have patience with us. Just a little food for thought for you all, I just spoke with the land owner and we're getting everything finalized with that. Also I'm meeting with one of the community garden advisers Sunday about the installation of the garden. #EATING

Grants

With the help of Urban Green works we were able to apply for the FL Dept of Ag. & Consumer Services Community Garden Grant   This grant is to implement partnerships with local governments, school districts, food bands, and other public or private nonprofit organizations, for the development of community gardens to grow specialty crops in urban areas in Florida.  We are waiting to hear back if we got this grant, and it can be used for materials and instillation of our garden.

Garden & Rewards

Just to keep you all in the loop were talking with urban green works about the first steps of installing the garden and also printing rewards and trying our best to have them shipped off in the next few weeks.
I really want to thank the people on kick starter for believing in our vision and choosing to help fund our first growing season.

Kickstarter

We started our Kickstarter campaign last week.   So far we have over $15,000 which is more then a 1/3 of our goal.   We have had people email us from all over the world, letting us know that they support us.  Mgoblog forums has posted our link a lot and we are so appreciative of everyone that has been helping to spread the word so we can plant a garden.

One of the coolest things is that people are letting us know what they can do to help.  We have heard from gardeners, public officials, school teacher, bloggers, students, and all diferent types of people.  The one thing in common is everyone has shown us a lot of support and wants to offer what they can to help.  That's why we are proud to say we are University of Michigan alumni.  Together we make a difference and our Kickstarter is showing how we are coming together.

mgoblog store

We got an email from http://www.mgoblogstore.com/ telling us that they have an eatin' themed shirt.  They wanted to let us know it came to their attention that we are doing a similar thing.

We hope to inspire a positive difference.

A lot of people have asked to work with us and we want to accommodate everyone, but that is not always possible.  So right now we are figuring out a way to work with Mgoblog.

Initially, it was confusing because we didn't want it to seem like we were saying yes to some people, but no to others.  And we did not want our fans to be confused about the shirts.

So over the last week, we came up with the idea to have a specific project with mgoblogstore.

We suggested that we focus on uniting to have a project that has a technology focus.  One of the ideas we had was to see if we could work with some grade school students to enrich their technology skills.  Familiarity with technology is important in this day and age, and is a necessary skill in a competitive job market.

We are waiting to hear back from mgoblogstore.

New Video

Our new video is almost ready. We are very excited to share it. One thing that we wanted to do is set a positive example.  There are so many negative images on television, and so many "reality" shows that aren't reality.  So we want to give the youths a positive example to look up to.  

What would the world be like if people did not watch the families that fight on tv, and instead watched communities that worked together.  I think the world we be a lot better.

New styles and designs

We are doing some new designs and styles.  Right now we have had a lot of requests for tank tops (which are available locally in Florida) and v-necks.  We have a few new designs and we will release them in the fall.  We hope everyone likes them and continues to wear their support.  If you have an idea, email us.

Go Blue.

I'm waiting on a phone call about the garden and if we would be a to use the land we wanted. The original spot we ask for belongs to someone else and we have other lots in mind, but nobody would be able to see it. One of this things is we would like for the garden to be seen.

Community Garden

I wanted to learn more about community gardens so I took at trip to Miami to find out more about what I need to do in order to make the garden happen. Down in Miami, I met up with one of the representatives of the community gardens in Miami (Roger of Urban Greenworks) and he showed me around different gardens that they've started all over Miami and answered any questions I had to ask about the process.

 After looking at all the gardens in Miami, we drove to Pahokee to check out a few lots where I could possibly start my own garden. I showed them everything Pahokee had to offer and he was amazed about all the empty spaces in Pahokee that were available and nobody was trying to put them to use. Then I showed him all the fields we had, and the things we grow already: corn, trees, mangos, basically anything you want to grow because of the soil and how rich it is. The main producer is sugarcane, and that is what employees most of the town.

 We are looking forward to starting our garden and are reading up on grants that will help us.

Grants

There are a lot of grants available for helping Pahokee.  Right now we are reading up on grants and learning more about the process.  It is a lot of reading and a lot of work, but it is worth it.  Hardwork brings results and we are learning new things everyday.

Update

 I can't sleep, so I decided to use my time by doing something productive, like keeping all the HopeForPahokee supporters up to date. Right now I'm going to finish packaging these last few orders, so that I can mail them off tomorrow and continue to work on a press release.

#5 presenting to the world

Social media was the first place where HopeForPahokee began. Through Twitter and Facebook we reached out to people to visit our website and see for themselves the kind of organization we are trying to be.

I waited to tell people about the site because I wanted people to see for themselves. I wanted them to watch the video, and hope that they would see the good we are trying to do, and tell or show someone else about it because they were inspired to do so.

We want people to believe in what we are doing, and that by wearing your support or making a donation you can make a difference in the lives of the people we are trying to help.

#4 making video for website

We decide to make a video to address some of the challenges that were going on in Pahokee. So we went online looking for something inspiring and positive that would grab people’s attention, but looking for something Inspiring and positive took some time because everything that came up showed a lot of negativity.

So we decide that it had to be some kind of positivity in pahokee that we could show the world. When we listened to TKS song we knew that was the perfect song to express our message. So we came up with a narrative and found images to match the song. It took a while but we finally got it to reflect what we were trying to say.

Why #EATING

The biggest challenge we faced was finding that thing that would bring it all together. We wanted it to be something the world could relate to. We didn't want it to just be a fad, we wanted it to become something people could believe in, not just in Pahokee, but all over the world. It needed to be something powerful, and significant for a large group of people to help bring them together for a great cause. We want to make a difference in the lives of the people we have committed to help, so they can also experience the joy of success in their own lives.

#EATING is something that is recognizable at a glance and has a meaning that encompasses everything we stand for. HopeForPahokee began as a way to inspire people to be conscious of the things around them, and give them the information to bring about a change that would positively affect their community.

#EATING is a slang term that is used to indicate success in ones life, and it is our intention to share our success with the town of Pahokee, and the rest of the world.

Teamwork #Eating

Two brains are better than one, so I sat down with a friend to brainstorm what would be the best way to change the lives of a group of people in a positive way. Pahokee is a place that is close to my heart, and its people are very important to me. It is my home, and what better place to start than where my life began. 

My friend and I started to focus on finding how to help the people of Pahokee both now, and in the future. Since children are the way of the future we directed our attention to trying to find ways to help them further their education. When kids leave school a majority of them go to an after school program, so we thought that was a good place to start. Our primary goal was to be able to give these programs funding so that they would be able to help provide kids with the knowledge and tools to be successful in life.

Every idea starts somewhere.

I've always wanted to do something to give back to my home town of Pahokee, Florida. In the beginning, I thought the only way I could help or give back to my community was if I made a large amount of money. As I got older, I realized that one of the best things I could do for my community was to lead by example, and show people that you care about them.

I learned that the best way to do that was to give the people of Pahokee something they could believe in and be a part of, and until recently I had lost sight of that. It was a close friend who reminded me that all it takes is time, teamwork, and faith to make a change.  I was very lucky growing up to have an abundance of love, and great support from my family, however I know some people aren’t as fortunate as I was. That is why I have dedicated myself to Hope For Pahokee with the intention to try and make a change for those in need.