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Journeywork began in my mind with the image of an Amish barn-raising. Just as the Amish come together for a day to frame a barn, members of our community come together for a few hours to plant a new garden for another member of the community.
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And come together we have! In 2023 our 67 volunteers have given 222 hours to remove invasive plants, outreach at Earth Day events and fall festivals, spread cardboard and mulch to prepare new beds, and add 1,129 native plants to eight locations in Montgomery County.
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Through our Pollinator Palooza project, 45 households and one congregation will be adding 1,456 flowering native perennials to their landscapes in the spring. Some of these participants will have Journeywork volunteers help them get their plants in the ground. Add to that the additional ten yards Journeywork will be prepping or planting in the spring, and we will have little barn-raisings all across the Delaware Valley!
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Volunteers are at the center of our model because we are not just growing gardens–we are growing a community. A community of individuals who want to help their neighbors, who want to learn about the plants that grew in Pennsylvania before we replaced them, who want a tangible way to respond to the climate crisis, who want to get outside and dig!
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I have explained our model and mission to hundreds of people this year, and I am often asked, “So, do you give away the plants?”
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No. Participating yard owners pay for the plants, but what if we could give them away? What if we could become plant fairies and offer plant grants to schools and municipalities who do not have the money in their budgets and would need to wait a year or more to accept our services? What if we could cut through the budget cycle in favor of the life cycle and build our climate resilience faster? What if we could provide plants to low-income neighborhoods?
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Thanks to the generosity of donors last year, we were able to buy tools and gloves that have been put to good use by our volunteers. With your help this year, we would like to raise $5,000 to offer plant grants to schools, municipalities, neighborhood associations, and nonprofit organizations. Your gifts will also enable us to offer training for volunteers and public works crews and to provide outreach and curriculum connections to schools.
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We can buy flowering plants and sedges for about $2 each. A gift of $56 enables us to offer plants for a 4X12 pollinator garden. A gift of $75 allows us to buy three native shrubs. We appreciate every gift.
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Your donations will be matched up to $2,000 thanks to a generous matching grant from one Journeywork supporter.
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Native plants anywhere help all of us. They improve air quality, help infiltrate stormwater, increase biodiversity, and reduce the use of fossil fuels. They also fill in the gray of our world with the intangible colors of hope, beauty, and wonder. Please join us in this joyful work. Donate to Journeywork today.
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Founder & Executive Director
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