DONATIONS

Every year we happily donate bulk seed and thousands of packets to local organizations and those around the country who are doing great work and rely upon donations to keep their gardens growing. About the most satisfying thing to do is to fill a box with seeds and send it on its way! Many of these organizations are working with kids in school gardens, veterans, immigrants, and those among us who may have otherwise fallen through the cracks. We’d like to think that reconnecting individuals with place, reinvigorating a sense of purpose and wonder, and the plain fun of watching a plant grow and then eating it can start with one small seed. You can learn more about the great organizations we donate to by following the links to find how you can contribute or simply marvel at all the good things happening in your community!

To request a donation email: info@uprisingorganics.com

Please include general seed needs, amount of space you are growing on/number of people serving, as well as a brief note about who you are and what you do. Approximately 75% of our seeds are donated locally and the rest ship from WA late Winter through early Spring.

Please note that due to an overwhelming amount of requests we are unable to reply to each request.

**2023 DONATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED**

-2022 DONATIONS-

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While our donations change yearly, we are keeping this list up so you can see how many fantastic organizations for you to plug into!

1. Common Threads: Whatcom County, WA. A project of 24 school gardens that, "connects kids to healthy food in the garden, in the kitchen, and at the table. They want kids to grow up making food choices that are good for their bodies, their communities, and the environment."
   
2. Community to Community Development: Bellingham, WA: Bellingham based ecofeminist and social justice organization led by women of color whose knowledge comes from real-life experiences. Their work is focused on, "creating movement towards the creation of communities that: empower under-represented peoples to have an equal voice in decision-making processes that affect their lives; develop and strengthen cross-cultural awareness; restore justice to our food, land and cultural practices, promote community relationships towards self-reliance and stand in solidarity with organizations working for human and civil rights.
3. Young Women Empowered: Seattle, WA. Centers youth of color in cultivating leadership and self-determination skills in a community of belonging. The Environmental Leadership Council dives into Environmental Justice through the lens of food- exploring their own cultural, emptional relationships with food and the land, challenging the unjust and racist food system, and growing food at Marra Farm in the South Park neighborhood alongside community partners.  Sharing of food, and hosting of youth-led meals and workshops around Environmental Justice topics, including access to fresh, healthy, culturally relevant produce.
4. Anacortes Community Gardens: An organization that collects seeds to distribute to community and school gardens in Anacortes, Skagit Valley, and Fidalgo Island.
5. Seattle PPatch: Seattle Department of Neighborhoods' P-Patch Program oversees 89 P-Patches located throughout the city. Community gardeners grow food on 14.9 acres and provide stewardship for an additional 18.8 acres of public land for a total of 33.7 acres.    
   
6. Ferndale friendship community garden: Gloria Perez: Ferndale, WA: A community garden that grows food for the food bank and also has 25 family plots and a hoop house so families can grow their own food. 
7. Beacon Hill Food Forest: Seattle, WA. Beacon Food Forest is a public permaculture project which promotes food justice by sharing organically grown food and empowering information. Currently a 2.75-acre permaculture food forest and annual giving garden, located on public land in the heart of urban Seattle, they feed and teach thousands of visitors and neighbors every year, and host educational events which promote sustainability, empowering community, art, and good food. Their annual giving garden is in the shape of a huge double-helix - a strand of DNA - to remind us that we are all in this together. It is planted and maintained by volunteers and open to the public to glean from during the growing season; it is also harvested for the local food bank and there are "Free Food" giveaway days when many locals come to get a bag of fresh vegetables.  Located in close proximity to low-income housing, many visitors to the food forest are new immigrants with not many resources. Some of them are very hungry because they do not have the paperwork necessary to get food stamps or visit a food bank.  A wide variety of food and medicine that are culturally appropriate are planted here, and traditional farming techniques from all over the world are shared.
   
8. International Rescue Committee, Seattle, "New Roots" Program: Seattle, WA. The IRC’s New Roots program focuses on food access and the nutritional needs of families upon arrival in the U.S. and builds on the agricultural experience of many new refugee and immigrant families by providing access to land, materials, and education for program participants to grow healthy food.
9. The Next Door, Raices Cooperative Farm: The Next Door has over two dozen programs that support and empower people in 5 Oregon counties and 2 Washington counties. Their focus is helping people build skills for loving relationships and healthy lives through an impressive number of health, family, and economic programs and trainings. Raices Cooperative Farm (one of their economic development services) offers free classes and workshops on both Organic Agriculture and  Small Business Development focusing on sharing skills, knowledge, and land with those who do not have garden space as well as schools and other groups to conduct educational activities and service learning.
10. Coffee Creek Garden at Oregon State Prison for Women: Promotes healthy eating, education, mindfulness and environmental action to create a healthier environment inside and outside the prison. They are supported by volunteers, community partners and funding from Toyota Together Green/Audubon and a Kaiser Permanente Healthy Food Access Grant. The Oregon Food Bank provides their Seed to Supper curriculum which is offered to 40 incarcerated women each summer in the Coffee Creek Garden. This 5-week class is taught by community volunteers and the team of incarcerated women who work full time in the prison garden program.  Ecopsychology interns from Lewis & Clark College work with Coffee Creek Garden participants to provide tools for improving communication and teamwork, and activities that will be helpful upon release for wellness and as healthy shared activities with family. Portland State University Students provide volunteer hours in the prison garden and sustainability-related curriculum for garden classes at Coffee Creek.
11. L'ARCHE Farm and Gardens: Tacoma, WA. (IN HONOR OF AUNT JUDY) Strives to offer a safe and welcoming environment that provides meaningful farm and garden work to persons with developmental disabilities. The Farm is a collaborative setting in which people with a diversity of gifts and abilities work toward common goals. Each farmworker, whether core member, assistant or volunteer is affirmed in their dignity, self-worth and connection to life.
12. GRuB, Garden Raised Urban Bounty: Olympia, WA, and South Puget Sound. Over the past 20 years, this organization has done so much for youth and food justice that I am finding it hard to condense! Please visit their website and browse their annual report to appreciate how much work they all do.
    
13. Lopez Island Family Resource Center: Lopez, WA. Offers programs and services to support, enrich, educate, and most importantly empower the Lopez community.
    
14. Growing Veterans: Lynden, WA. Empowering veterans to cultivate purpose and belonging by growing food, community and each other. Their vision is to end the isolation that leads to veteran suicide.
15. York Community Farm: Bellingham, WA. Improving lives in the Bellingham area! Look for them in the York Neighborhood and on Facebook.