Destiny 2021 Q4

 Grassroots Gardens WNY  The Compass School  Vanderbilt Museum DESTINY INTERACTIVE XVII Q4 2021

Bountiful Ga

Many New Americans bring their culture to the Brewster Street Market Garden at Journey's End Refugee Services.

They have also raised crops from around the world like Nepali eggplant, sorghum and bitter gourd.

Photo: Grassroots Gardens WNY

ardens Grow in Buffalo/Niagara Falls Thanks to Grassroots Gardens WNY

National Grid Foundation

“Good food sho

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rassroots Gardens WNY, a collaborative of cultivated gardens in Buffalo and Niagara Falls NY, is doing its part to help create community spaces where residents have access to healthy food.

In existence since the early 1990s, the organization creates gardens in areas known as food deserts. Food deserts are neighborhoods where major grocery stores have not or will not invest in the community making it difficult for residents to access fresh fruits and vegetables.

With Grassroots Gardens WNY’s assistance, the gardens are built, planted, and tended to by an army of volunteers hungry to learn and provide food for themselves and their neighbors. The answer to the critical need for food is within these successful community gardens.

Photo: Grassroots Gardens WNY

People of all ages grow with Grassroots Gardens -- from the youngest preschool gardeners at Bennett Park Montessori School in Buffalo to many seniors in an adult day habilitation program with Gardens of Compassion in Niagara Falls.

“National Grid Foundation helped Grassroots support 114 community and school gardens this season in both Buffalo and Niagara Falls,” said Jeanette Koncikowski, Executive Director, Grassroots Gardens WNY.

NATIONAL GRID FOUNDATION — DESTINY INTERACTIVE XVII Q4 2021  Editor/Christine Berardi  Contributing Writer/Deborah Drew  Creative Director/Pamela Focá  Executive Director/Edward H. White Jr. Destiny is a quarterly publication created to share and promote the accomplishments of the organizations and programs National Grid Foundation supports.

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ould be a right not a privilege.”

— Alice Waters, American chef, restaurateur, and author

“Thanks to the generous support of community partners like the Foundation, there is no charge for city residents to participate in their neighborhood or school gardens. Grassroots never charges fees for programs or public education workshops.”

Approximately 90% of member-gardens grow fresh, organic vegetables, fruits, and herbs in addition to native plants.

Vegetables consistently requested and grown each season are collard greens, tomatoes, and peppers. In addition to these garden staples, Grassroots

Photo: Grassroots Gardens WNY

Gardens has several gardens including the Brewster Street Market Garden at Journey's End Refugee Services in Buffalo, NY that are led by New Americans. Koncikowski reported that they “have been surprised that crops from around the world like Nepali eggplant, sorghum and bitter gourd can be grown in our climate.”

Each year, Grassroots Gardens educates more than 1,500 people of all ages on how to grow their own food. It also partners with many community development agencies to provide

Grassroots Gardens WNY staff, board members and gardeners celebrate learning about the recent national accreditation from the Land Trust Alliance.

National Grid Foundation

Photo: Grassroots Gardens WNY

Arts in the Gardens workshop with Queen City Arts and youth at the Mayer Avenue community Garden provides youngsters with fun activities during the summer.

Grassroots Gardens Program Manager Tim Chen joins the young gardeners.

National Grid Foundation

young people with fun activities to keep them actively engaged throughout the summer.

Grassroots has two new initiatives: Gardening for All program, which seeks to increase accessibility and universal design at its gardens, and the Therapeutic Gardening program, which brings together mental health partners and community members to look at how to better utilize garden spaces for supporting gardeners' mental and physical health.

Photo: Grassroots Gardens WNY

Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority's Perry Community Garden volunteer gardener Patricia Muck is overseeing soil delivery in preparation for new standing raised beds to be installed. Next season, Grassroots' staff will also install accessible matting for better traction for Patricia, who uses a walker.

2021 was a milestone year. Grassroots Gardens WNY achieved its national accreditation from the Land Trust Alliance.

Accreditation demonstrates that the organization is working to the highest and best standards in land and community conservation.

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Residents in Buffalo and Niagara Falls and Alice Waters should be proud.

It’s Easy to Apply for a Grant National Grid Foundation views its role as that of more than a funder. We seek to develop partnerships with outstanding organizations that benefit the communities in which we provide grants.

The Foundation strives to improve the quality of life within our grant-making area. Grants are made on a competitive basis to non-profit organizations for programs and projects within our major focus areas of Education and Environment To apply for a grant, simply take the Eligibility Quiz to see if your organization qualifies. Once approved, organizations will be directed to the Foundation’s Cybergrants portal to apply.

National Grid Foundation asks applicants for financial documents, an executive summary/ proposal along with other demographic information.

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Good Things Keep Growing At The Compass School Nestled in the woods of Kingstown, Rhode Island, The Compass School is planting educational seeds for students as a high-performing K-8 charter school focused on environmental sustainability and social responsibility. Under its project-based curriculum, this learning community offers small, multi-grade classes taught through integrating academic disciplines that help to prepare each graduate to be a responsible citizen in the global community.

capacity for new communities to realize their own garden programs. It’s school farm, outdoor classrooms, instrumental music program and vision for an outdoor amphitheater are a harvest of educational success.

National Grid Foundation has supported The Compass School’s science and sustainability program for four years.

Last year, the school grew the largest school garden in the state, which includes chickens, goats, pollinator gardens, lavender labyrinth and raised beds for vegetable production. Its Farm is a living laboratory to understand and construct solutions to community issues using STEAM methodologies. Under its RI School Gardens Initiative, Compass hosts workshops, field days, camps and other community engagement opportunities.

As The Compass School continues to bloom, its model demonstration farm this year included outreach to schools from around the region and provided

The Compass School Farm This year, The Compass school cultivated their 4,200 square feet of crops and produced 1,800 pounds of organically grown fruits, vegetables and herbs including apples, pears, blueberries, strawberries, cherries, tomatoes, carrots, beans, peas, peppers, lettuce, squash, potatoes, onion, parsley, ginger, basil, and garlic.

They had the support of 12 interns, 3 days a week, totaling 1,200 hours

National Grid Foundation

over the summer. Additionally, they educated 60 summer campers in gardening and healthy cooking. Their successful agricultural efforts also

Outdoor Classrooms To support our mantra of “Cultivating Community While Respecting the ‘Rona,” Compass installed outdoor classrooms for all our steps K-8.

Each class now has its own open air Band & Chorus The Compass School is delighted to announce the launch of its first-ever formal instrumental program!

Our middle school students are now able to access three tracks of the musical experience of their choice: band, chorus, or general music. Those who elect band have selected clarinet, trombone, trumpet and saxophone for their areas of study. The chorus program will include musical selections ranging from classics to popular music.

contributed to over 300 pounds of fresh produce to families in need through the Jonnycake Center.

learning space, which offers shelter from the elements. The most two recent additions this school year were erected in the area where the modular classrooms used to be.

We anticipate the opening of our outdoor amphitheater in the Spring or Summer of 2022; we can't wait to utilize this new venue for the concerts to celebrate our new programming.

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From left to right:

Dave Bush, Director of the Reichert Planetarium, James Kelly, President, Vanderbilt Museum Board of Trustees, Jim Munson, Operations Manager, Carsten Jansen, Restoration Services, and Elizabeth Wayland-Morgan, Executive Director, cut the ribbon in front of the steps leading from the Rose Garden to the trail below.

Elizabeth Wayland-Morgan, Executive Director, Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum, speaks at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

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Vanderbilt Museum Opens Solar System Hiking Trail The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum and Planetarium held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in November to officially open the Solar System Hiking Trail.

William K. Vanderbilt II, a businessman, philanthropist and naturalist, lived on the property in Centerport. It is now home to the Vanderbilt Mansion, Museum and Reichert Planetarium. After more than 70 years, Museum staff reclaimed and restored the original Nature Trail.

The intermediate level trail is a one-mile, one-way looped trail with two exits along the trail. A scale-model of the solar system with instructional signage is part of the trail. This is a new outdoor classroom experience to inspire students and other visitors to learn and appreciate astronomy and Long Island’s indigenous plants and wildlife.

Solar System Trailhead Sign (courtesy of Vanderbilt Museum)

“Man must rise above the Earth – to the top of the atmosphere and beyond – for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives.”

— Socrates, philosopher

Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash