Educational Farms To Grow Communities
This last summer, the Fresh Roots team frequently travelled back and forth between East and South Vancouver, Coquitlam, and Delta for their weekly harvests, farmer’s markets, and programming using Modo, and we’re so glad we were able to support them!
Fresh Roots: Good Food For All
Fresh Roots Urban Farm Society is a non-profit organization that stewards educational schoolyard market farms in the Lower Mainland with four locations on the ancestral and unceded homelands of the sc̓əwaθən məsteyəxʷ (Tsawwassen), kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), q̓íc̓əy̓ (Katzie), stó:lō (Sto:lo), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-waututh), qiqéyt (Qayqayt), & sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Coast Salish People.
The vision of Good Food For All is achieved through youth learning the skills, capacity, and will to act as food citizens and land stewards, to grow and share healthy food for themselves, their families, and the planet! To make this vision a reality, Fres Roots cultivates educational farms and programs where students dig into meaningful connections with the land, food, and each other, inspiring communities to build food systems.
Modo & Fresh Roots: A shared Path Of Community & Sustainability
With the Fresh Roots teams in need to transport large quantities of freshly harvested vegetables, native plants, and educational resources required to run their diverse programs — summer camps, SOYL (Sustainable Opportunities for Youth Leadership) program, and company Team Buildings — the transportation of all these goods is an additional barrier for staff who do not readily have access to a vehicle and face long commute times.
According to Fresh Roots’ Operations & Digital Engagement Specialist, Vivian Cheung: “Sending Vancouver staff members to the Delta Farm Roots would not have been possible without Modo. Especially with the lack of available public transportation in this area and rising gas prices. Modo was the perfect solution: flexible booking times, a wide selection of vehicles to book in multiple locations, and benefits such as gas and parking that work around the usual challenges of having multiple schoolyard farms.
As a multi-site small organization, we are grateful for Modo as an affordable and accessible option for our team.
In addition, it was essential for us at Fresh Roots to partner with an organization that shares our values of community and sustainability. At Fresh Roots, we are passionate about growing food but, more importantly, thriving communities. As a Modo member, we love being able to connect with others through Modo’s active online presence, 24/7 ready-to-help support team, and carsharing program driven by people who care. Just like us, Modo emphasizes respect and recognizes the harm that is caused to the environment and is committed to reducing the harm by the use of vehicles as a core part of their Purpose. Hence, in addition to our environmental education kids and youth programs and sustainable organic growing practices, we are excited to find more ways to be sustainable thanks to Modo.”
Make It Sow: Together We Can Make It Grow
We invite you to join the Make It Sow Fundraising Campaign and help them reach their goal of raising $75,000 to GROW, NURTURE, and DEEPEN the Fresh Roots’ kids & youth programs by Thanksgiving on October 10th – we need your help!
- $10 – Provides seeds to grow a row of carrots for youth to harvest and take to market
- $25 – Provides one day of paid work experience and programming for a SOYL youth
- $50 – Provides lumber and tools for creating projects on the farms
- $100 – Provides a subsidy for one kid to attend Camp Fresh Roots
- $250 – Allows us to invite a knowledge holder from the community to teach youth about topics ranging from native and medicinal plants to digital literacy and Afro-Indigenous farming
- $1000 – Supports two SOYL youth for a week of learning, growing and leading on the schoolyard farms
Whether it is a one-time or monthly donation, everything helps! Together we can provide reliable, long-term support for kid and youth educational food programming on schoolyard farms in the Lower Mainland.
