NEWS & NOTEWORTHY IN OUR ELEMENT
Unity Foundation, Trustees Build Capacity at Unity College By Rob Constantine, Vice President for College Advancement The Unity Foundation prides itself as a capacity-building foundation, which means that it seeks to help organizations position themselves for long-term success. Unity College was recently selected to receive one of the largest grants in the Foundation’s history to do just that at the college. The grant will fund two positions and operating support to grow the college’s fundraising capabilities, with a special focus on Annual Fund support. The grant allows the college to implement the first stages of a development plan prepared by the Development Committee and approved by the board of trustees in February 2010. At that time, the board of trustees also lent their financial support to the initiative, spontaneously committing nearly $45,000 in individual gifts to fund a match-
ing requirement of the grant. That effort was led by trustee and Development Committee member Eleanor Briggs. The plan calls for ambitious fundraising goals for the college in coming years, beginning with the Annual Fund. “Unity College has made tremendous strides over the past few years,” said Rob Constantine, vice president for college advancement. “But sustaining those gains and continuing to transform requires a steady stream of operating support from the Annual Fund. A vibrant Annual Fund will also help us identify and attract potential donors to provide significant capital and endowment gifts.” The biggest contribution from the grant is the addition of two new staff members, Joe Galli and Debora Noone, introduced on page 40. Their experience and energy have been
COMMUNITY FOOD IN FOCUS WITH JANE’S TRUST SUPPORT
den knowhow. Often, food produced in our campus gardens that could not be used in our cafeteria was donated to the Volunteer Regional Food Pantry for distribution to their clients. Last year, students in Professor Mick Womersley’s environmental citizen course built a barn near the main campus garden, providing some temporary storage and processing capacity for food produced on campus. Also students in Adjunct Professor Jim Merkel’s section of environmental citizen built a campus root cellar this past fall to increase cool storage for our own crops and others. These projects have increased our capacity to produce and distribute food on campus and in the community, but nothing has bolstered our food program more than last growing season’s introduction of Veggies For All. A project of Unity Barn Raisers now hosted at Unity, Veggies For All is a community agriculture project that works to relieve hunger by growing vegetables for those in need. Project Manager Tim Libby started Veggies For All in 2007 and moved the project to Unity College in 2010, digging in two new plots on campus and two elsewhere in town. All together, this combined acre in production yielded over 15,000 pounds of squash, cabbage, carrots, and more for distribution through the food pantry.
By Jesse Pyles, Sustainability Coordinator Unity College recently received a $75,000 grant from the Boston-based Jane’s Trust to support our efforts to grow a community food network in Unity. The funds will be used to increase campus and community food production by investing in infrastructure upgrades and personnel. In recent years, on-campus food production has increased with a focus on providing high-value produce for use by Dining Services for Summer Programs and fall special events. These efforts have developed alongside a renewed academic interest in food and farming as our agriculture, food, and sustainability major has taken root in the Center for Sustainability and Global Change. Summer garden positions have been filled by students for the past few seasons, and a number of campus departments – notably Dining Services, Facilities, and Academics – have strengthened the Summer Program with budget support, sweat equity, and gar-
a great addition to the office, and will help us make progress in this important area. The Unity Foundation is located across the street from Clifford Commons, a complex of brick buildings that house the U.S. Post Office and Bangor Savings Bank in Unity.
The integration of Unity’s campus garden program with Veggies For All is a natural fit. Veggies For All provides more opportunities to engage our students in sustainable agriculture and connects our campus to the broader community in meaningful ways. Unity College offers Veggies For All administrative support and access to infrastructure, volunteers, and resources that allow the project to serve more people. The Jane’s Trust gift recognizes the success of several seasons of hard work and this flourishing new partnership. Funds will be used in the coming years to purchase a tractor, construct a more permanent washing and processing facility, and increase storage capacity on campus. Additional funding will support staffing and administration of the project at Unity College, Unity Barn Raisers, and the Volunteer Regional Food Pantry. Jesse Pyles, sustainability coordinator, reviews data on the energy consumption of Unity House.
UNITY SPRING 2011 |
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