Flavors of Fall Hall of Fame
Over the years, Flavors of Fall has benefited numerous Cambridge-based organizations doing meaningful work within the community. Below is a peek at who they are and what they've been up to.
Flavors of Fall 2010
Beneficiary: Community Art CenterMission: The Community Art Center's mission is to nurture children and young adults with limited access to financial resources so they achieve personal and cultural growth, and have a positive impact on their world through joyful experiences in the arts.
Website: www.communityartcenter.org
Amount Raised: $11,760
How Flavors of Fall Helped: The funds from Flavors of Fall helped us complete a renovation of our facility for the first time in 14 years – allowing us to expand our reach and improve our current programs.
Since Flavors of Fall: Over the last year we were able to create and pilot the Youth Development in the Arts training for youth workers; and our School Age participants presented their puppet show, How Stories Came to Earth, at the 2011 Puppet Showplace Theater Incubator as well as displayed an exhibit of their rod puppets.
Coming up for Community Art Center: In the coming months, we look forward to our first ever "Back in the Day" Alumni Event, the 15th annual Do It Your Damn Self!! National Youth Video & Film Festival, and an exciting year of new and familiar faces, creative art projects, and fun events throughout our youth programming.
Photos from Flavors of Fall:
Flavors of Fall 2009
Beneficiary: Second ChancesMission: Second Chances' mission is to provide clothing to people in need, inform supporters about issues affecting our community and help people connect with local organizations or issues that resonate with their values, skills and personal experiences.
Website: www.secondchances.org
Amount Raised: $13,540
How Flavors of Fall Helped: With the funds from Flavors of Fall, Second Chances, which was 100% volunteer-run with no paid staff, was able to pay a part-time staff person and work with consultants on some important capacity building projects.
Since Flavors of Fall: Since 2009, Second Chances has successfully leveraged additional funding and engaged many more people in our work, including volunteers, advisors, donors and community partners. Second Chances was able to build on the publicity from the event to grow the number of individual and corporate donors in late 2009 and throughout 2010, and to increase the agency's annual budget in 2010 and 2011 by comparable amounts to what was raised through Flavors of Fall (approximately $13,000).
The economic downturn has hit human service agencies especially hard. We've experienced an increased need for our services, and the clients that we are serving have deeper needs (i.e., instead of needing one or two outfits, they need four to six outfits). We are simultaneously experiencing decreases in donations of clothing as well as funding from corporate and individual donors. Fortunately, because we were able to engage more people in our work, we have been able to minimize the negative impact of the downturn on the people we serve. In 2010, we served almost 500 people (25% more than projected), because even though financial contributions donations were somewhat smaller than in past years, more people donated to Second Chances. We were able to serve more people in need -- without dipping into our meager reserves -- because of the increased capacity and expanded reach that we achieved with help from Boston Chefs, City Square Associates and the generous donors to the Flavors of Fall event in 2009.
Photos from Flavors of Fall:
Flavors of Fall 2008
Beneficiary: City SproutsMission: The CitySprouts mission is to develop, implement and maintain beautiful, resource-rich school gardens in collaboration with public school communities. Integrated into the curriculum, CitySprouts gardens inspire teachers, students and families with a deep, hands-on connection to the food cycle, sustainable agriculture, and the natural environment.
Website: www.citysprouts.org
Amount Raised: $12,835
How Flavors of Fall Helped: CitySprouts used the funding we received from Flavors of Fall to start our first year as a district-wide school garden program in every one of the Cambridge Public K-8 schools. The $12,000 from Flavors of Fall got our program and gardens rolling in the final two schools-- Baldwin and Cambridgeport. Today, Cambridgeport has a beautiful woodland garden behind the school, transforming what used to be an alley; and vegetables growing in the sunny side of the playground in "wooly felt pockets" attached to the chain link fence. The Baldwin has a small but growing garden classroom tucked up to the schoolyard, with some beautiful art work made by the school community. This summer our youth intern teams at both schools harvested bumper crops of tomatoes, basil, eggplant and squash.
Since Flavors of Fall: CitySprouts has started its program in two Gloucester elementary schools this fall, a collaborative effort with The Food Project called Massachusetts FoodCorps Initiative. We're off to a good start with workshops for teachers in both schools taking place last week and this week.
Coming up for City Sprouts: The future? We're going to keep growing to urban schools to help teachers give kids the experience of outdoor learning and hands-on food education that all children need.
Flavors of Fall 2007
Beneficiary: CYCLE kidsMission: CYCLE kids address health and emotional issues facing today’s under-active, often overweight children by have children engage in biking to encourage confidence, curiosity, independence and environmentally-conscious lifestyles.
Website: www.cyclekids.org
Amount Raised: $10,595
How Flavors of Fall Helped: The Flavors of Fall money was used to buy bicycles for three programs in Cambridge - 30 bikes and 75 helmets.
Since Flavors of Fall: Now reaching about 1,000 kids per year, the program is a mandatory part of the 5th grade curriculum in the cities of Cambridge and Somerville. We've also begun opening programs in NYC underserved neighborhoods
Coming up for CYCLE kids: We are planning national growth and have been recruiting national sponsors. We are developing a literacy curriculum as children love riding bikes in gym class and have been reading and writing about their experience. We also hold an annual bike ride to raise money to give more programs to more schools and kids.
Flavors of Fall 2006
Beneficiary: Community Legal Servicesand Counseling Center
Mission: Community Legal Services and Counseling Center provides free civil legal aid and affordable psychological counseling to low-income people. Our services combat the effects of poverty and violence by helping clients and their children meet basic human needs for safety, income, health and housing. CLSACC draws on the expertise of dedicated volunteer professionals to provide direct services to our community's most vulnerable members.
Website: www.clsacc.org
Amount Raised: $7,625
How Flavors of Fall Helped: The funds from Flavors of Fall were divided equally among our legal aid and mental health programs for low income people to help them access basic human needs: safe and affordable housing, safety from domestic violence, mental health counseling, income and safety in this country (for those seeking political asylum in the U.S.).
Since Flavors of Fall: We celebrated our 40th anniversary at a sold out event held by Upstairs at the Square; increased reach by serving over 1,200 clients with the assistance of 100 volunteer professionals who donated over $500,000 worth of services; and had nearly a 100% success rate in maintaining or obtaining legal status for immigration clients.
Photos from Flavors of Fall:
Flavors of Fall 2005
Beneficiary: On The Rise, Inc.Mission: On The Rise creates a community where women have the relationships, safety and resources they need to move out of homelessness. We engage with those most in need and support their initiative and strength as they move beyond crisis and discover new possibilities.
Website: www.ontherise.org
Amount Raised: $5,000
Photos from Flavors of Fall:
Flavors of Fall 2004
Beneficiary: Project PlaygroupMission: Project Playgroup is a collaboration between the Cambridge Center for Families and the Child Care Resource Center designed to provide child and family services to those in need.
Website: Project Playgroup website
Amount Raised: $5,000