(On August 25, 2009, Growing Home's Executive Director, Harry Rhodes, sent out the following email to our friends and supporters. Please read below and give if you can.)

Dear Friend:

I'm writing to ask for your help.

So far, Growing Home has had a very good year. Our staff has trained over 25 people and is in the process of helping them find employment. We have had good harvests, with improved market sales, and more participants in our Community Supported Agriculture program than ever. We completed the construction of the Farm Training Center at the Wood Street Urban Farm. We received USDA organic certification for all of our farms, including our urban farms.

Growing Home has been lucky this year, too: most of our funding sources have remained stable, and some have even grown. For example,we had a very successful Benefit dinner in June, with more participating chefs, and more guests than ever.
However, foundation and corporate giving have dropped because of the bad economy, and Growing Home has not been immune to this situation.

Most foundations that supported us in the past have continued to support us, but some lowered the amounts of their grants, and others kept the amounts stable even though our need has grown. Despite the efforts of all of our staff, and the support of many wonderful organizations, and hundreds of individuals like you,foundation funding is about $100,000 below what we budgeted for this year.

I expect that new revenue will come in within the next six months, but Growing Home's needs are greatest now. Our expenses are highest during the summer, but grants usually come in at the beginning and end of the year.

I am hoping to erase Growing Home's funding gap by September 30, and to do so, I need your help now. I am asking each of you to give what is a significant gift for you, whether it be $10 or $1000.

I want to thank you personally for all of the support, financial and moral, that you have given Growing Home in the past. It is only through the work of all of us together that we can bring about real change.

Sincerely yours,

Harry Rhodes
Executive Director