With an eye toward the future of potentially not having a staff person to help bring Urban Abundance’s mission to fruition, an important element of 2020 was developing a program that kept volunteers engaged with the organization on a more consistent basis.
Another method for Urban Abundance to adapt to the pandemic was developing an entirely online harvest program.
Urban Abundance’s activities have traditionally been centered around volunteer events. When a global pandemic hit, the organization turned to installing publicly accessible edible landscapes throughout the community in a bid to continue furthering their mission when events couldn’t be held.
Urban Abundance is still a small, very grassroots non-profit; in 2018-2020, VISTA was the only paid staff. As such, the BOD and staff maintain and leverage healthy community relations that support the organization’s work.
A variety of fruit trees live and thrive in Southwest Washington. It can seem tricky to know when fruit is ready to harvest, but here is a helpful breakdown of indicators by fruit tree type..
Urban Abundance harvests and tends backyard and community orchards in Clark County, WA. Pruning is an essential element of orchard maintenance, and pruning at different times of year can yield different results.
Urban Abundance harvests and tends backyard and community orchards in Clark County, WA. With just one staff person for outreach and programming, it helps to be intentional and realistic about marketing strategies, and leveraging community partnerships remains paramount to outreach efforts.
Urban Abundance has historically been funded by a recurring charitable donation, but maintaining donor relations with individual donors, corporate sponsors, and fruit donors is paramount to ensuring program sustainability..
Urban Abundance helps harvest and tend backyard and community orchards in Clark County, WA. Urban Abundance volunteers help with orchard maintenance, harvest, and outreach..