PULSE Partners - Mission of Mary Cooperative

Marianist PULSE is happy to highlight another of our important non-profit partners, Mission of Mary Cooperative, and we thank Farm Manager Stephen Mackell (kneeling in photo at left) for being our guest blogger this week. For more information on the work of this cooperative farm, check out their website and their very own blog!

Mission of Mary Cooperative is a non-profit organization that has worked in east Dayton for the past decade. We are the only lay Marianist founded, operated, and funded non-profit organization in the country, and we are proud of the work the family of Mary is doing in our community. Primarily we focus on the issues of food and economic social justice especially the issues of healthy food affordability and access. The work done at Mission of Mary aims to provide tangible benefits for the people of our community as well as the vacant and forgotten land of the neighborhood. 

For the past three years we have also played host to a Marianist PULSE volunteer. Since the beginning, our organization has been small and energized by the work of volunteers. Early on, having a PULSE member meant a doubling of our full time staff power. In more recent years the PULSE volunteer has spearheaded new community initiatives and done much of the legwork to get new agency-wide projects off the ground.

This year we are grateful to have Anna working with us through PULSE. Anna brings a mindfulness and intentionality to the work at Mission of Mary and a deep desire to build relationships with neighbors through the work that we do. In addition to helping us grow 50,000+ pounds of produce annually, and hosting upwards of a thousand visitors to the farm for field trips and volunteer events, Anna has taken the lead on neighborhood educational outreach. 

After hearing that we were hoping to begin a series of public classes and workshops about gardening during the summer of 2019, Anna decided that she could lead a more ambitious program of weekly workshops starting in Fall 2018. Now the Educational Workshops are a staple of what we do; Anna coordinates the content, marketing, and hosting of these weekly gardening and healthy lifestyles workshops. Since November, when classes began, the topics have ranged from home canning and hot sauce making to growing micro greens and healthy cooking classes. Through the outreach of these neighbor focused workshops, Anna helps connect families she meets to our other programs like our Community Garden, CSA Veggie Membership Program, and Backyard Garden Program. Through Anna’s efforts our programs are reaching new neighbors and we are laying the groundwork for a more food resilient and empowered community.