Kickstarter

Hey Backers and Friends, or should I say future farmers of America? I hope you all realize how monumental today was. Together, we raised over $6300 in one day, the biggest day for us yet. None of this would have been possible without your support. (see attached image of us painting our billboards with joy)

On behalf of everyone who is a part of the Hayes Valley Farm Community, I want to say thank you.

*** CELEBRATION THIS SUNDAY ***
This Sunday we're having a potluck in celebration of raising the funding. We're having our work party from 12:30-4:30 but will start a potluck celebration at 3:00pm. Feel free to bring a dish to share, OR just bring yourself.

*** IT'S NOT OVER YET ***
We still have $1000 to go and just a few days, we need every one of you to pull out your last bit of effort and let your friends know they need to support us. If we were able to do such an amazing job in the past 10 months with such little funding, imagine what we could do if we vastly exceeded $20,600. Our kids program is overjoyed and excited about the possibility right now. The vegetables are popping up everywhere at the farm! We just harvested collards, tomatoes, mint, mustard greens, broccoli, squash, onions and our first raspberry.

How you can help
1. Email - Below I've written a SAMPLE EMAIL you can edit and send to your friends and family.
2. Social Media - Write a blog post, post to to facebook and twitter. The best way is when you just ask others, they will come forward.
3. Work - Don't be afraid to ask your co-workers, many of them have heard of us but don't know we're raising money, so just nudge them a little. :)
4. Phone - Call up your friends, tell them you supported our campaign and why, then ask them to do the same. It means more when it comes straight from you.

Take care and hopefully we'll see you Sunday at the farm,
Chris

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*** SAMPLE EMAIL ***
Today, there is more hope than ever to create a healthier food system. However, there is much work to be done. Every day, Hayes Valley Farm is helping people stay healthy by educating community members about their food, the land it grows on and how they can change their habits to create a healthier food system. Most often this showcases in their twice-weekly work-parties where they do good, while having fun.

To date they have inspired their community to contribute over 16,000 hours of their time to help their project. They have turned 750 cubic yards of organic material and 88,000 pounds of cardboard into rich fertile soil to grow fruit and vegetables for the community. They have been able to help educate over 3,000 community members about ways we can grow food and grow healthy soil too. And this is in just 10 months. Imagine what they could do next year if you gave your support today.

I've donated to their Kickstarter campaign - http://bit.ly/hvf-ks2 and have pledged my support. I hope you will join me in my effort by pledging your support through a donation. If they don't reach their $20,600 fundraising goal, they will loose all the pledges. Together, we can create a healthier future, we can be part of the solution!

Learn more and donate today by going to the following link - http://bit.ly/hvf-ks2

If you are unable to donate online, please visit http://www.hayesvalleyfarm.com/support/hayes-valley-farm-donation.html for more info on how to donate by check.

Thank you,
[Your Name]
*** End of message ***

Over the past few weeks we have been showered with support for our Kickstarter fundraising campaign and have raised over $5,650!

Please read our blog post about it here - http://bit.ly/bOcHrG

WE NEED YOUR HELP

We're still quite far away from the goal of $20,600, but I know we can get there if we put our hearts and minds to it.

Please spread the word to your friends and family, encourage them to help support the farm and the larger sustainable agriculture movement. If we don't make our goal, we will loose all of the pledges so far.

WHY YOUR FRIENDS SHOULD SUPPORT US

The Hayes Valley Farm was started to serve as a community and agricultural hub empowering San Francisco residents to connect with one another, grow their own food, and learn about sustainable ecological systems. The farm builds local community and gives urban residents a chance to reconnect with the earth.

Transforming a former freeway ramp into a farm, it is the only urban space of its type in San Francisco and attracts volunteers from ages 2 to 86. In just eight months the Hayes Valley farm community has done the following:

1. Inspired over 15,000 man hours (the equivalent of over 7 full time employees working for a full year) of community volunteering time.
2. removed over 750 cubic yards of organic material
3. removed over 88,000 pounds of cardboard from the landfill
4. transformed the 2.25 acre space from a collapsed freeway into fertile soil
5. Nursed over 150 fruit trees, grown thousands of plants, and produced healthy organic food.
6. Offered loads of free classes (yoga) and paid workshops (soil science and composting) to community members.

Many people say they know more people in the neighborhood after ONE visit to the farm than they have met in the previous five years.

Thank you,
Chris Burley & The Hayes Valley Farm Team - including Jay Rosenberg, Booka Alon, David Cody, Margaretha Haughwout, Cyndie Hoffman, Angela Goebel, Alex Lampert, Rob Joyce, Casey Gold, Brett McGuire, Brie Mazurek, Levi Maxwell, Michelle Collier, Vanessa Roland, Shannon Stewart, Kevin Bayuk, Mark McQuillen, Zoey Kroll, Jane Tobin, Dave McConville, Lindsey Goldberg, Janelle Fitzpatrick, Aimee Hill, Nolan O'Brien & 2600+ other volunteers