Cooperative Gardens Commission Seed Sorting Volunteering

[DJ Needelman]

Happy Winter,

DJ and Hayden are reaching out on behalf of the Cooperative Gardens Commission requesting volunteers for our fourth year of Free Seed Distributing.   Since the start of COVID, our grassroots organization has received seed donations from seed companies, repacked them in our Philly Seed Club, and then distributed them to between 150-350 seed hubs across the country. Volunteering will consist of packing boxes of individual seed packets and bulk seed packets to be shipped to Seed Hubs. 

When: Tuesdays from 4pm-7pm, Thursdays from 1pm - 4pm, Sundays 4pm -7 pm

Where: LAVA : Lancaster Avenue Autonomous Space, 4134 Lancaster Ave Philadelphia PA 19143

How Long?: We will ideally be done packing boxes by the end of February, mid March at the latest. 

If you know of a Community Garden, Food Sovereignty project, Food Access organization, Farming project, or any other space that would be interested in being a Seed Hub for the Spring 2023 season, please feel free to forward them this email or send them the 2023 Seed Hub Application linked here. 

Each Seed Hub acts as a center point for their community to distribute seeds to those who are able to grow their own food. We are hoping to target communities that have been historically and currently oppressed and have struggled with access to fresh foods. Some ways that Seed Hubs have distributed seeds in the past have been through seed swaps, tabling at a farmers market, stocking a seed library, sending seeds to community gardens, and posting on a local facebook group, to name just a few. 

If there are any questions, please feel free to reach out or check out the Cooperative Gardens Commission website. We also have a really cool Agricultural Policy document, a Reparations Roadmap, resources for new gardeners and farmers, and much more! 

Finally, if you have a network that you could forward our Year 4 Seed Distribution GoFundMe, it would really help us out! We are entirely volunteer run, pay for renting space at LAVA, pay for supplies and shipping, and hopefully reimburse our organizers for hundreds of hours of unpaid labor. 

Thank you for your time reading this!

Best,

DJ Needelman (they/them) and Hayden Kesterson (he/him)