Get Ready for #Giving Tuesday
The 3rd Annual #Giving Tuesday is December 2 this year. In 2012, New York’s 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation launched the initiative, dedicating the Tuesday following Black Friday and Cyber Monday to giving. The idea is to get consumers as excited about giving back as getting the best deals on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday.
The Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture offers alternative holiday gift options for those looking for creative ways to give back to the community. Special occasion gifts include purchasing a fruit tree, membership, and sponsoring a row on the Urban Farm at 1209 Smith St. in Columbia.
Recipients of the fruit tree gift option receive a holiday card with instructions for setting up a site visit with CCUA’s Edible Landscaping department. Once the site has been evaluated for the best placement for the fruit tree, then the Edible Landscaping manager, Liberty Hunter, will install the fruit tree. Tree options include apple, pear, plum, peach, and cherry.
Recipients of the row sponsorship gift option receive a holiday card and certificate in honor of the gift. Then kale, collards, turnips, beets, mustard greens, lettuce, onions, peas, carrots, squash, peppers, melons and tomatoes will be donated to local food pantries throughout the 2015 growing season.
Sponsoring a row or a partial row at the Urban Farm is a giving option year-round, through the organization’s philanthropic campaign, Planting for the Pantry, and CCUA is currently approaching the end of its second year of the program. (http://www.columbiaurbanag.org/donate/planting4thepantry/)
In 2014, area businesses, clubs, foundations, and individuals sponsored 21.4 rows, equaling 5,141 square feet. This resulted in 4,020 pounds, or 18,342 servings, distributed to the Annie Fisher Food Pantry on 616 Park Ave., and Tiger Pantry at 1400 Rock Quarry Road. The initiative provides low-income residents with fresh, locally grown vegetable options — often too expensive for many families to afford.
The mission of the CCUA is to facilitate the development of local and urban agriculture food systems, while highlighting the community, environmental, economic and health benefits of such systems. CCUA’s programs build a food system whereby residents are empowered with the knowledge to grow and consume healthy food.