The Rumphius Foundation Awards Two Grants to Assist Education and Environment
Boston, MA (PRWEB) May 28, 2014 -- The Rumphius Foundation, a grant making institution dedicated to strengthening community, promoting education and protecting the environment, is proud to announce two grants awarded to nonprofit organizations. The Telling Room in Maine and St. Andrew’s School in Delaware were both given funds to execute projects that seamlessly bring together community, education and sustainability.
The Rumphius Foundation was established in March 2013 by Michael C. Schuller and his family. Michael named the foundation after one of his favorite children’s books, "Miss Rumphius" by Barbara Cooney, in which the central character seeks to make the world a little more beautiful than how she found it. The two grants mark the one-year anniversary of Mike’s death, carrying on his commitment to leaving the world a kinder and more beautiful place.
“In our inaugural giving year we have strived to make sure that the first grants that we make keep Mike’s mission and legacy alive,” said Rumphius Foundation Director Candace Schuller. “As we evaluated the grant proposals we received this year, we asked ourselves whether Mike would be proud of each project. These two very important projects exemplify our mission to leave the world more beautiful in small, but meaningful ways, and would make Mike proud.”
The Telling Room, a nonprofit writing center in Portland, Maine, was given the grant to support a 12-week program for teens from Portland’s immigrant and refugee community. The program partners with Cultivating Community, an organization committed to growing sustainable communities, to provide the teens with a curriculum to strengthen their literacy, while learning land and farm-based skills. Immigrant teens primarily from East Africa and Central America will learn food justice, gardening in urban gardens and on a suburban organic farm, train in culinary and nutritious cooking skills, and work together to give back to and strengthen their communities. At the culmination of the program these teens will have created a resume outlining their new skills and get career-oriented instruction.
St. Andrews’s School will use the Rumphius grant to support a project that is part of the Delaware Farm to School Collaborative, connecting schools with locally grown produce. The funds will enable the school to install a 20 x 48-foot high tunnel hoop house to extend the growing season of their organic garden by two months per year. By extending the growing season, it is estimated that the school could grow as many as 3,000 heads of lettuce per year that will benefit not only the students, but also the many summer programs hosted at St. Andrew’s. Having a hoop house will also allow more students to work in the garden and learn about sustainable agriculture and food systems.
To track the progress of these two new projects, submit grant proposals, and make donations please visit http://www.rumphiusfoundation.org.
About The Rumphius Foundation
Established in 2013 by Michal C. Schuller, The Rumphius Foundation is a nonprofit organization designed to help communities and educators strengthen the future of our young and the environment. Named after the children’s book "Miss Rumphius" by Barbara Cooney, in which the central character seeks to make the world a little more beautiful, the foundation makes grants to nonprofit projects that promote community, education and sustainability. Through these projects, the foundation strives to remind the next generation to leave the world more beautiful than they found it. For more information on The Rumphius Foundation, please visit http://www.rumphiusfoundation.org.
Carrie Callahan, The Rumphius Foundation, +1 6174134589, [email protected]
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