I wanted to make sure that I didn't overlook you so I'm posting this on the blog. If you feel led to respond to this please contact me through this blog, through my website, or on Twitter.
Dear friends, family, and partners in ministry,
I am writing to you because I am involved in an exciting ministry with The Rock / La Roca’s Community Garden and Hunger Ministries and it needs your help.
The Rock / La Roca’s Community Garden is in its fifth year and is in the process of growing. In fact, it has seen growth in each year of its existence. This growth has enabled us to produce larger and larger quantities of fresh produce that feeds the hungry in our community. Within the next year we have the opportunity to quadruple the amount of food that we are able to produce.
The Rock / La Roca’s Community Garden and Hunger Ministries currently serves over two hundred families in the community. This is done through the Monday night dinner that is offered, our summer feeding program for children, and the baskets of fresh food we send home with Monday night diners and deliver to shut ins and others in need. This year we also have the opportunity to partner with Arlington Elementary School and help them establish their own garden.
The Rock / La Roca’s Community Garden and Hunger Ministries also partners with gardeners, local farmers, and the Lexington Farmer's Market in order to provide huge amounts of fresh food to the hungry. These partnerships include organizations like Faith Feeds (http://faithfeedslex.org/about/), a local gleaning group that collects donations from local farmers and distributes them to emergency food agencies; InFeed (http://infeed.wordpress.com/about/), a group whose mission is to use vacant urban land to grow food for the hungry; and Seadleaf (http://seedleaf.typepad.com/), a group whose mission is to give people a chance to grow food, to cultivate an appreciation for healthy, local, nutritious food, and to promote availability of such food by installing and maintaining gardens in and around Lexington.
As The Rock / La Roca’s Community Garden has grown over the years so have the costs of operating it. The greatest current needs are money for equipment and infrastructure. The biggest obstacle in the production of food in the garden is water. We simply do not have adequate access to water nor do we have adequate irrigation equipment. This limits what can be grown, when it can be grown, and where it can be grown.
We are looking to add a water line, tap and meter, and a drip irrigation system to the lot that we use. This will allow us to maximize our yield of fresh healthy fruits and vegetables for the community while responsibly using water, our most precious resource on the planet. The cost of adding this will be approximately $4000. We also have other equipment and infrastructure costs that we need to raise money for, including tools (rakes, hoes, shovels, etc.) for site preparation, seeding and harvest; harvest bins for carrying produce from the field; stakes and twine for supporting pepper and tomato plants; and canning equipment for processing surplus harvest for use after the growing season.
Finally, we would like to be able to hire some teenagers from the community to help with the garden this summer. This will allow for them to earn some pocket money, stay out of trouble and gain some work experience that will aid them in the future.
As a ministry that works primarily with the urban poor we do not have the financial resources at present to fulfill our vision for this ministry and to accomplish what we believe that God is calling us to do. This is where you come in.
In order to raise money and awareness for this cause some of us who work with the garden and feeding ministries have decided to ride our bicycles to this year’s Kentucky United Methodist Annual Conference. On Tuesday, June 7 we will gather at The Rock / La Roca United Methodist Church in North Lexington and mount our bicycles. We will ride from there to the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington, Kentucky. That’s over 80 miles of riding.
I ask that you partner with us to achieve our goals. Whether through prayer or financial support as a sponsor, I would like you to please join us. If you would like to be a prayer partner by all means do so. You can start praying right now! All of riders, including myself are currently training and covet your prayers for our safety and a successful ride. If you would like to make a donation to this ministry, please send your check (made payable to The Rock / La Roca UMC and designated “Community Garden Fund”) to:
The Rock / La Roca United Methodist Church
1015 North Limestone
Lexington, KY 40505
I thank you for prayerful consideration and for your support.
Sincerely,
Tom Baker
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