Growing Into The Future

Green Earth Harvest team members

Left to Right: The Conservation Foundation’s Jennifer Hammer, Endeavor Health’s Jeff Zakem, Green Earth Harvest’s Farm Manager Russell Cerocke, and The Conservation Foundation’s Sheryl Fasone

 

Growing Into The Future: Green Earth Harvest Receives Transformational Grant from Endeavor Health

 

We are very excited and grateful to announce that The Conservation Foundation’s Green Earth Harvest program just received a $360,000 grant from Endeavor Health’s Community Investment Fund for infrastructure, equipment, and capacity building. This grant, in addition to the donation of a new pole barn that will be built in 2025, will make this a transformational year for our certified organic farm program here in Naperville, where we provide fresh, local organic vegetables to more than 650 families through our farm share program and help to feed more than 900 families through partnerships with local food pantries.

 

As my dad always told me, you need the right tool for the job, and our Green Earth Harvest farm program now has the opportunity to heed that wise advice, thanks to this generous funding. Grant monies will be used to replace ailing equipment and upgrade to some new machines designed appropriately for our mid-sized farm. A few of the new pieces of equipment you can expect to see on the farm this summer include a new cultivating tractor, new transportation/utility vehicles to help safely and efficiently move farmers and veggies around the 60-acre McDonald Farm, an upgraded barrel washer for cleaning the harvested root vegetables, an industrial salad spinner, and a skid steer for material moving, mixing, loading, and unloading. What Farmer Russ is most excited about is a compost drop spreader that will allow us to utilize compost more efficiently and accurately, resulting in a deeper application of compost and leaf mulch, helping to build healthier soil. Healthy Soil = Healthy Veggies = Healthy People!

 

This investment in the Green Earth Harvest program by Endeavor Health will have impact for years to come and help us to continue to provide healthy food for our community and maintain and grow our Farm to Pantry Initiative, offering access to fresh, local, healthy food for those who need it most.

 

By Jennifer Hammer
VP of Land & Watershed Protection

 

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