11.05.09

Bloomington company plants seeds of knowledge with fundraising help

Herald Times (Bloomington, IN) October 30, 2009

A new business in Bloomington provides schools with new fundraising options.  Instead of magazines or candy, Nature’s Crossroads, a sister business to LIFE Certified Organic Farm in Monroe and Morgan counties, offers seeds and bulbs for kids to sell: flower, herb and vegetable seeds and onion bulbs in the spring and flower and garlic bulbs in the fall.

Nature’s Crossroads also provides environmental education materials to students and teachers, and in the case of Clear Creek Elementary, has donated seeds, bulbs and gardening expertise for the school’s garden.

“Nature’s Crossroads provides a strong educational component to the fundraiser,” said Justine Evans, first and second grade teacher at Clear Creek. “They come into the classes and do interactive lessons with the students, teaching them about the plants that they will be selling.”

To accompany the fall bulb sale, Nature’s Crossroads gave teachers information about bulbs and encouraged students to dissect a bulb to see how it will produce a plant; they distributed information on building a compost pile; gave a brief history of tulips and their use in research on climate change; taught about seed stratification; and provided a video on fall gardening.

Nature’s Crossroads sold seeds at Bloomingfoods this spring, but selling fundraising packages to schools is a new venture for the startup company.

“We were working on a grant for our Healthy School initiative, which involved a school garden,” said Clear Creek sixth grade teacher Missy Douglas. “They were toying with the idea of a fundraiser to get their seeds into the hands of local gardeners while supporting the community. It ended up being a perfect fit. We have enjoyed helping them fine tune their program to fit the needs of local schools.”

“Nature’s Crossroads operates with a sustainable-plus mission, meaning that we aim to be good for the community, good for the Earth and economically viable,” said Maggie Sullivan, team coordinator for the company.

“One way we strive for sustainability is by sourcing our materials as locally as practical, which includes the prizes we give to students in our school fundraiser. We love being able to support other local businesses while providing great incentives to students and teaching them about the wonderful resources in our community.” she said.

As in conventional school fundraisers, kids could earn prizes based on the amount of products sold. But prizes from Nature’s Crossroads were, like the company, local: drawings for membership in Wonderlab, passes to Bryan Park pool, a Pizza X pizza party, a Western Skateland roller-skating party, rock climbing passes at Hoosier Heights and gift certificates at local stores.

The school earns 25 percent of the proceeds of the sales, so Clear Creek students raised $708 for the school this fall by selling $2,832 in tulip, crocus, garlic and daffodil bulbs.

“This is truly a fundraiser with a deeper purpose.” Douglas said.

For more information about Nature’s Crossroads, visit www.naturescrossroads.com or call Maggie Sullivan at 812-345-1592.