Hiram - Time is of the essence. In less than two weeks, Hiram Farm Living and Learning Community will either have earned a $50,000 grant from Pepsi in order to build a new activity center and farm office to support their programming for autistic patients... or it’s back to the slow pace of piecemeal fundraising.
Everyone can help by casting their votes in favor of the project at http://www.refresheverything.com/hiramfarm .
Hiram Farm is one of only a handful of programs in the country that provide an agricultural work setting for adults with autism. The organic farm provides meaningful work opportunities and community support for adults with autism spectrum disorders. As a result, participants produce healthy local food for the community, including organically-grown vegetables, meat and eggs.
Program participants have been planting the garden in recent weeks and will sell produce later in the summer. They held a farm festival last year in October. During the winter months, they cut and sell firewood for the community.
The program opened one year ago on the 120-acre former Al Couch Farm with six participants. It has more than doubled in size since then. The farm has pastures, a large garden and two greenhouses. But there is no building onsite for program activities or an administrative office. Basic facilities such as restrooms and drinking water are not even available on the farm.
Current program and office space for the non-profit organization is housed a half-mile from the farm. A building on site is imperative in order to provide a quality program for adults with autism and to make the farm as productive as possible, say Executive Director Andy Krcmar and Program Director Kim Hummel.
They plan to build a 2,000-square-foot, energy-efficient straw bale activity center and farm office with the assistance of volunteers.
There are only 12 days left to make a real difference with a click of a mouse. On June 30, all online votes will be counted and only the top 10 finalists will win the grant money offered by the Pepsi Refresh Project.
Pepsi is accepting 1,000 ideas every month from people, businesses, and non-profits with ideas that will have a positive impact in their communities, donating “millions to fund ideas that will refresh the world,” according to popular vote.
Project categories include health & fitness, arts & culture, neighborhoods, the planet, education, and food & shelter. The Hiram Farm proposal falls under food & shelter.
People can vote for up to 10 ideas each day. Every new month, Pepsi accepts 1,000 new ideas and the end of each month, ideas chosen by users to receive grants will be announced. Then the whole process starts over.
As of Monday morning, June 7, the Hiram Farm project ranked 40th among other competing projects at the Pepsi Refresh website. By afternoon, it ranked 38th. At midnight, it moved to 37th place. With the votes of additional supporters, it could reach the top 10 by June 30th, setting in motion a very celebratory ground-breaking ceremony at Hiram Farm.
