ORANGE — The nonprofit that encourages people to “grow food everywhere” is launching a new program that will teach women gardening, body/mind wellness, community building and community involvement.
Seeds of Solidarity Education Center, run by wife and husband Deb Habib and Ricky Baruc, learned about a month ago it was to be awarded a $15,000 grant from the Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts to pump into the new program, called Women Healing Women Healing Earth.
“In short, the intention of the program is to provide a healing opportunity for women with a lot of diverse life experiences, shall we say,” Habib said. “The gist of the program is not to separate out any group, but to create a healing space for women who have been marginalized in our society or who are isolated or who are just stressed due to the impact of (COVID-19).”
Habib said Women Healing Women Healing Earth will essentially be a series of classes and courses to help enrich women in the North Quabbin and greater North Quabbin region who have faced isolation, poverty, chronic health issues or racial injustice. She described it as something similar to a certificate program.
Women benefiting from this program will include those affected by incarceration. Habib said she teaches gardening at the Franklin County Jail and House of Correction, though this work is not related and she has not been there since the pandemic began. She is one of the instructors of Greenfield Community College’s organic gardening course, as organized by the jail’s education and gardening program.
A squad of women connected to Seeds of Solidarity will serve as the teaching team. It is these women that conceptualized Women Healing Women Healing Earth, about a year and a half ago, when Habib started seeking funding. She said this grant is partial but significant funding, and enables the nonprofit to launch it well.
The goal is $25,000 and the nonprofit has received a $2,500 contribution in addition to the $15,000 grant. All donations are tax-deductible, and the program will be free for participants. To contribute, visit bit.ly/3oZHisX.
Habib said she hopes program participants and instructors will be able to have socially distanced classes and gatherings in the spring, if the pandemic has been sufficiently curbed by then.
“Because everybody needs that,” she said.
Habib said Seeds of Solidarity is planning some virtual opportunities for the winter to introduce North Quabbin residents to the program, and will likely invite applications for a more intensive spring-and-summer experience starting in January. She said Women Healing Women Healing Earth is natural for the nonprofit, which for more than two decades has been focused on community building and skill development.
The grant is one of six the Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts announced for community enrichment in the third quarter of 2020. The six grants totaled $82,000. The foundation also announced six organizational development grants, totaling $55,345.
Habib said she applied for the grant, as she always keeps her eyes peeled for such opportunities as someone who runs a nonprofit.
“They’re great,” she said of the foundation. “I’ve been familiar with their work for a while.”
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-722-0261, ext. 262.