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THE GROWING CONNECTION FUNDRAISING DINNER AUGUST 30 AT SLOWFOOD

Friends of TGC gathered at the ACME Chophouse in San Francisco Saturday Aug. 30 for the Slow Dinner to benefit The Growing Connection.

The crowd truly reflected TGC’s themes and activities, with chefs, IT specialists, members of the university and cooperative extension community, Master gardeners educators and policy-makers all in attendance. The evening was highlighted by thoughtful and passionate appeals to be involved with the project, and with solutions to hunger, particularly by John Dickman (Apple), Delaine Eastin (former Secretary of Education, California) and our guest of honor, Chef Rick Bayless.

Special thanks go out to John, Thom and Kristen, and their staff at ACME, for the wonderfully diverse and tasty meal (all local produce) we all enjoyed.

This event – the first of its kind for TGC – raised over $12,000 – through a “Sold Out” and an enormously successful Silent Auction. This is a terrifically useful amount of money for our low-cost operations, and goes far beyond our expectations!

The driving force behind the evening was TGC Board member, Rebecca Jepsen, who worked tirelessly to make this event a great success. Rebecca was ably seconded in her efforts by John Dickman who, like Rebecca, tapped into a deep Bay Area network of friends and associates, and assured that TGC made the best of a wonderful opportunity.

TGC & AMD PARTNERSHIP - LEARNING LAB AND TGC GARDEN

In Chiapas, Mexico, on April 28, The Growing Connection and AMD's 50X15 program are launching their first active partnership, matching school and community gardens in the market communities of Oxchuc and San Juan Chamula with brand-new IT Learning Labs, developed and installed by AMD. The young people of these towns will learn horticulture, vegetable production and nutrition as they simultaneously learn IT communications, becoming linked through the Learning Labs with vital sources of information, and with their peers in TGC around the world.

The inauguration will be carried out by the Governor of Chiapas, Sr. Juan Sabines, the Senator Orantes, the National Senator from Chiapas, who welcomed this collaboration to her District, and AMD's CEO, Dr. Hector Ruiz.

TGC's participation in this initiative has received generous financial support from the National Association of Agricultural Educators (http://www.naae.org/). This event illustrates the best aspect of public / private sector cooperation and mutual action to help young below to grow, learn and determine their destiny. We hope this will lead to expanded joint action across Mexico, Latin America and around the world.

THE GROWING CONNECTION IN NICARAGUA

FAO Volunteer Rafael Merchan was in Nicargaua where the Growing Connection has begun operations. He took a whole bunch of photos which he has posted on Flickr and also has a really great blog here.

THE GROWING CONNECTION NURTURES AT-RISK YOUTH

This summer, at-risk youth in Binghamton, NY, will gain job skills by growing, harvesting, and marketing fresh vegetables, herbs, and flowers, courtesy of The Growing Connection.

Gearing up for its third summer, this innovative entrepreneurial program aims at providing job training skills such as customer service, advertising, and marketing. It is sponsored primarily by the Binghamton's Center City Weed and Seed Strategy and Binghamton University's Center City Coordination Program, and implemented by Broome County Gang Prevention (BCGP). (Click here to read the entire story)

THE GROWING CONNECTION GROWS IN CHICAGO

Two award-winning restaurants in Chicago, Illinios recently unveiled their new TGC gardens! Chef Mike Altenberg’s Crust and Chef Rick Bayless’s Frontera Grill are the proud new hosts of beautiful TGC gardens. Fresh organic produce harvested right on the premises can now be used for fresh menu additions, food bank donations, and delicious gifts. Both of these restaraunts are not-to-be-missed in the Chicago restaurant community, so check out their new gardens as you sit down for dinner!

THE GROWING CONNECTION GARDEN AT GOOGLE HQ

google_garden1

We are proud to announce The Growing Connection Garden at Google. The Garden consists of 100 EarthBoxes all planted with vegetables and herbs from different regions of the world. The Garden was planned in cooperation with the Chefs at Google, and made possible with support from Google and the Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County and volunteers from Google, University of California - Cooperative Extension, EarthBox, and TGC.

google

TGC Advisory Co-Chair and Google Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf, Google Food Service Manager John Dickman and Dr. Maria de la Fuente from the UC-Davis Cooperative Extension spoke at a brief ceremony on Monday, May 1. We have posted a short video of Vint Cerf's comments below, and have also invited Vint to stop by and guest blog on the site here.

“DIRT IN A BOX MIGHT SAVE THE WORLD” - THE CHICAGO READER

The Growing Connection was featured on the front page of the January 19th issue of The Chicago Reader. Click here to download a PDF of the entire story. You will need software capable of reading a PDF document such as Adobe Acrobat which is available for free here.

TGC in Ghana

CHECK OUT THE AHS RIVER FARM BLOG

The Research and Demonstration garden at River Farm, the headquarters of the American Horticultural Society in Alexandria, VA, is in full bloom. Check out their blog by clicking here.

TGC RECEIVES BRONZE MEDAL AT CHICAGO FLOWER & GARDEN SHOW

The Growing Connection's display at the Chicago Flower & Garden Show was awarded the Bronze Medal Award for the Horticulture Division.

chicago flower and garden show

WHAT IS THE GROWING CONNECTION?

The Growing Connection (TGC) is a grassroots project developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) supported by a progressive coalition of private and public sector partners.

The Growing Connection links people and cultures in a revolutionary campaign that introduces low-cost water efficient and sustainable food growing innovations hand in hand with access to technology and information via existing and emerging technologies. It provides a sound educational foundation, and offers hundreds of families, both in America and abroad, a concrete opportunity to earn income and climb out of desperation. Perhaps most important, The Growing Connection engages people – a network of committed individuals - in an elegant solution to one of man’s fundamental challenges.

How does it work? School gardening programs and community gardens around the world grow vegetables in an EarthBox system. that becomes a common growing platform for all participants. Students grow food, conduct horticultural experiments and share their lessons and experiences with each other using IT connectivity. Through modern IT installations, The Growing Connection participants in a number of countries are directly linked. And importantly, they are also connected to sources of vital information and advice on growing food. Those once the most isolated can now grow, learn, and chose their own opportunities and destinies.

MORE INFORMATION

Download our new brochure here and a printable version of it here.

Download our EarthBox Fact Sheet here, and a printable version of it here.

Click here to watch a short film about the project.

Tell us your stories, send us your pictures.

Write us at info@thegrowingconnection.org

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