Our Year-Round Sunflower Farms Partnership
One way Positive Charge! PDX "amplifies kindness" is by shining the spotlight on other nonprofit gems. One of our year-round partnerships is with Focus on Youth, a local organization headquartered at Sunflower Farms in the SW neighborhood of Garden Home. This relationship is a win-win: Both our orgs prioritize putting an end to food insecurity.
FARMING TO BUILD RESILIENCE &
END FOOD INSECURITY
Since 2003, Focus on Youth has profoundly transformed the lives of thousands of at-risk and houseless youth through sustainable gardening, healthful cooking, and photography.
Organic vegetables grown at Sunflower Farms as well as their farm-fresh eggs are helping to reduce food insecurity for youth, low-income seniors, and families—as Sunflower Farms donates all its vegetables and eggs to Outside In, Neighborhood House, and the St.Vincent de Paul Food Pantry.
Positive Charge! PDX Weekly Compost Commandos
The Sunflower Farm practices "lasagna gardening," which is a great way to create a new garden bed without having to dig or till. The process also serves as a helpful, pesticide-free weed barrier.
Cardboard with very little ink is best for lasagna gardening. This is where Positive Charge! PDX comes in! Every Monday and Tuesday, our "Compost Commandos" pick up and deliver floral boxes and buckets no longer needed by local stores. Then we deliver the donations to Sunflower Farm, allowing them to continue their important work of growing food to feed people experiencing food insecurity in Portland. They also use their space in the spring and summer months to grow and sell beautiful flowers to help pay for their enormous water bill.
We are proactively looking for volunteers for every FIRST MONDAY and the occasional FIFTH MONDAY of each month. If you can help, please email info@PositiveChargePDX.org.
Positive Charge! PDX Weekly Egg Br"egg"ade
Sunflower Farm is also home to 30 beautiful chickens—and those chickens lay eggs! Teaming up to help, the Positive Charge! PDX Egg Breggade picks up fresh eggs at the farm every Thursday morning and delivers them to Outside In. The eggs are used for meals for houseless youth and/or offered for the free farmer’s market serving at-risk youth in downtown Portland. When the weather warms and the gardens are full, we also deliver fresh produce from Sunflower Farm. Many thanks to our Egg Breggade volunteers!
Recap of Sunflower Farms Family Fun Day
Sunday, July 17th, 2022
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We are super proud that, in partnership with Focus on Youth, our July 17, 2022, Sunflower Farms Family Fun Day was one of 28 volunteer projects selected for the 2022 Portland Timbers and Thorns' Stand Together Week.
Thirty volunteers from all over town brought shovels, loppers, and gloves and jumped right in to lend a hand in weeding, cutting flowers, harvesting vegetables, removing invasives and more at Sunflower Farms.
We had the best time planting seeds of appreciation for the natural world and seeds of philanthropy along with the Timbers and Thorns!
Stand Together Week benefits organizations focused on youth, the environment, and social equity. Since 2012, Stand Together Week has mobilized 6,575 volunteers to provide the Portland metro area with 22,244 hours of service at more than 276 events benefiting youth and the environment.