In November 2021, we began a quarterly blog post series to highlight and express our gratitude for funding partnerships that fuel Solid Ground’s work. Through the support of our volunteers and funders, Solid Ground provides flexible support to current participants and operates at a capacity that allows us to create greater impact in our community.

Solid Ground grants team members Naomi Natsuhara and Kyle Kuhn accept a check at Sprouts store #457 in Seattle.

This past quarter, our supporters included Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation, now in its fifth year of partnership with Solid Ground’s Community Food Education (CFE).

Founded in 2015, Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation’s goals are to inspire, educate, and empower children and individuals to live healthier lives. With this shared goal and the partnership of many supporters, including Sprouts, CFE has flourished, providing nutrition education courses in classrooms, hosting field trips at Marra Farm to show children the work that goes into the food on their plates, providing cooking courses that help to interpret nutrition and food labels, and so much more.

Before the pandemic, CFE created a positive impact in more than 2,000 participants’ lives each year. As we head into the third year of the pandemic, supporters like Sprouts have enabled CFE to adapt to the changing world in the following ways and more:

• Provide Cooking Matters at Home virtual cooking classes (Check out our blog post Reimagining cooking together.)
• Ensure safety for farm participants and volunteers through tools sanitization stations and other protocols
• Meet our partners’ emerging food needs

Jeanette Schwensen, a volunteer at Sea Mar, helps out at FARMacia.

In 2021, new and existing partnerships with Sea Mar Community Health Centers and South Park Senior Center flourished, helping connect South Park residents with fresh, healthy produce grown on our Marra Farm Giving Garden with the support of dedicated volunteers. (Check out our blog post A free farm stand sprouts in South Park, with produce grown by Solid Ground.)

We’re grateful for the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation’s continued support of this work, especially as we strive to meet community needs and help the Seattle/King County area recover from the pandemic.

“Solid Ground has been a wonderful partner of the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation since 2018,” says Molly Brown, programs and communications specialist at Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation. “With our Foundation’s focus on increasing nutrition education and nutrition access for kids and families, we see great value in the Community Food Education program and the hands-on learning opportunities at Marra Farm, which together provide people with the knowledge and resources they need to live a healthier life. We are honored to be involved with this work!”

Additionally, we want to share our gratitude for recent grantors:

• Biella Foundation

• Economic Security Project Action

• Medina Foundation

• Turner Foundation

• UCC Legacy Foundation

•  Wyman Youth Trust

We’re thankful for their commitment to our shared communities and their trust in Solid Ground, helping us move toward our mission to solve poverty and undo racism and oppressions that are root causes of poverty. We can’t do this work alone and value those who feel called to share their time, energy, and resources to help us create an equitable society where everyone has the chance to thrive.