Garden-Raised Bounty (GRuB) is a grassroots non-profit organization based in Olympia, Washington, dedicated to nourishing a strong community by empowering people and growing good food.
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The organization saw its start in 1996 when Blue Peetz, a recent graduate of nearby Evergreen State College graduate, found a partner in Bonnie Turner who volunteered part of her land in West Olympia for him to cultivate so he can follow his passion of fighting hunger in his hometown by growing, donating, and educating people on safe, healthy food. Blue also found another partner not long after, also a recent graduate of Evergreen, in Kim Gaffi, who brought grant writing expertise to the table. With their combined efforts and skills, they soon were hosting groups from the community and classes from local elementary, middle, and high schools for educational field trips and were getting more and more involved in the local hunger fighting movement. They named their effort the Sister Holly Garden Project, referring to the twin holly trees at the entrance to the farm. The need for a deeper involvement in the community led to the eventual non-profit group formation in 2001, merging the Kitchen Garden Project with Sister Holly to form GRuB. This allowed for a full time dedicated staff to tend the farm, fund raise, and facilitate field trips. This also helped establish a curriculum and staff for its Cultivating Youth program, which employs low-income and/or at-risk youth in the area to work on the farm and to take part in job, life, and personal enrichment skill building workshops.
On its farm in West Olympia, 1.75 acres (7,100 m2) are dedicated to growing organic food and flowers in which they aim to donate at least 50% of its yield annually to the Thurston County Food Bank, low-income youths in their Cultivating Youth employment program, and to charity events. In order to train youth and volunteers in marketing and to give people more tangible ways to donate, GRuB markets the rest of their produce through a summer neighborhood market stand, a seasonal Community Supported Agriculture program, where members receive a box of produce weekly, and through seasonal flower bouquet subscriptions. In 2009 they grew over 12,500 pounds, their largest yield to date. The overall goal is to end hunger and provide meaningful jobs to the next generation, specifically those who have slipped through the cracks of the system. Those two are tied so closely together that they have to be conquered in unison. If youth have enough to eat, and are eating right, the impact on their performance in school as well as effects on their self-esteem would be huge.
This program of GRuB's helps low-income families to help themselves by building raised-bed gardens at their homes, and improve quality of life and nutrition of low-income seniors through therapeutic garden programs. Originally started in 1993 by Rich Doss, this program merged with GRuB in 2001. Since its inception, the KGP has donated and built over 2,000 raised-bed gardens to no/low-income residents of Mason and Thurston counties. Each year they give out 100, and unfortunately in recent years, there has been a waiting list on top of that. The KGP has also built larger scale community gardens in West Olympia and in Rochester.
Every summer GRuB employs 15-20 low-income and/or at-risk youth ranging from the ages of 15-20 in a two month program that teaches them about gardening, cooking, hunger, healthy and non-violent communication, leadership skills and teamwork. For those that are able to, they are hired on for the academic year where these skills are further developed and more focus is put on setting long term goals and achieving them with help from staff and members of the community. These include some or all of the following: attaining their high school diploma, GED, next job, higher education, and in some cases a position on the GRuB staff.
Each year the farm hosts a variety of groups from the community and classes from schools all over South Puget Sound. For many of the visitors this is their first time on a farm, presenting to them their first encounter with where food comes from and how it's grown. Some trips these guests are given tours, educating them on the principles of organic farming and giving them a sense of safe and healthy food; other trips people are looking for a rewarding and rigorous way to help the community, so this provides an opportunity to teach techniques of farming and gardening and the instillation of teamwork.
A key component to GRuB's causes is an infusion of passionate volunteers, and these come in all forms: community members, students needing community service hours, internships, work-study students, and Americorps members. The demands of a non-profit whose farm yields over 12,500 pounds are more than a small staff can meet, and the hundreds of volunteers a year are what keeps the motor running.