Thanks to each of you for your kind words and offers of support. I am sending out the first round of care packages today!
Robin

I have not seen an Oprah show in years. I am glad for the good she does, and she does a lot!

Robin, you really are kind. I am retired and looking for some seeds to sow to supplement, as SSecurity did not keep up with the spiraling economy. Any Herbs, tomato, lettus, carrots, sweet potatoes. Can't think of anymore, but will pass along this gift of seeds to others next year. Shirley

Hi ShirleyC,
Please e-mail your info to:
Robin282mt@verizon.net
Thanks,
Robin

Hi,
I am happy to receive private e-mails for this project. No one is required to put personal information here. Some do not mind, but for those who do not wish to post their hardship story, just e-mail me privately.

E_Mail me at Robin282mt@verizon.net

Please put "Need for Seed" in the subject line.

PLEASE**** tell me how many people this is for! I would hate to send a family of 5 or 6 seeds for an individual's garden.

Let me know if you are donating or would like to be a recipient.

Although I do not know what seeds I have available at any given time, please give me information such as NO turnips or whatever. Some people just don't like some vegetables, and it would be better to save those for someone else.

If you are crazy about something not as common, say okra, please note that too. I do not mind someone saying green beans are a favorite that info will help me, and I can give more beans to that person.

I cannot fill orders as I am not a seed company. I will be saving as much as I can from my plants each year to supply this project. I will of course be growing my favorites, but I may get something you like from someone else.

Right now, I am paying for postage myself, but if this project gets huge (as I hope it does), I will not be able to front the postage and will attempt to sell my extra plants to cover it. If the project becomes really huge, I will go for non-profit status. If anyone has any suggestions for me on this please e-mail me.

A little personal information for my motivation. I was a single mom ( I preferred to say "Independent Parent") for 12 years. It was tough, but I survived and climbed out of the hole by myself. There were times that I wondered if I would have lights, phone, or food. I did everything I could to make ends meet. I couldn't leave my babies, so I landscaped and took them with me. I also baked homemade bread and sold it. Doing things to help myself allowed me to keep my dignity. At the same time, I needed help too. So, I wish to give a little help and let people keep their dignity.

That said, any hardship qualifies a person to receive these seeds. A fixed income such as Social Security, single moms on aid, working people who cannot cover everything because gasoline has eaten up their food budget, fire victims, people from impoverished areas with little outside work available, people who are temporarily out of work (more time to garden!), people who do not have a hardship who would like to help other who are by requesting seed to give to the person or by growing the veggies and giving the produce to neighbors in need. Believe me, I understand hardship, and I know I have not even scratched the surface of what types of hardships people have. Just let me know in the e-mail briefly why you ask for the help. When I go for non-profit status, I believe I will need to document some of this. You do not have to share every detail--"unemployed" will do; it is up to you what you share.

I am grateful to all of you who have pledged to donate. We all appreciate your generosity.

I am also grateful to those who have made requests; this has provided us the opportunity to help, and give back.

With the seed I send, it may not be this year's seed. However, tomato seeds are viable for 5 years or more, so they would still sprout. If I think something has lost 20% or so of it's viability, I will add extra seed to make sure folks get enough to eat.

Once this project gets going, I will have mostly "this year's" seed.

My main reason for this is food. I want people to be able to eat fresh, nutritious produce and feel the satisfaction of providing for themselves. All "care packages" will include a variety of vegetables to give someone a seasons worth of food. IMPORTANT!: Be sure to remember to inform me how many people you will be feeding. I am currently lining up a "care package" for a shelter that will require much more seed.

I will try to add herbs as well to the care packages. My herb garden is just starting, so I cannot guarantee this right now. In the future, I will add herbs to every care package.

If there are flower seeds available, I will throw those in for cheer. Nobody needs cheer more than someone in a hardship situation.

I am propositioning seed companies too. Frankly, I do not believe this will work until I have my non-profit status, but... I am requesting last year's seed from seed companies. I spoke with one already that says they burn all their old seed because they cannot sell it. I said to them that donating is not selling, how about that? They liked the idea, so I have to write something up. I still think the non-profit status will be the key to open those doors. Then the companies can write it off as a charitable donation. Anyone who knows the ins and outs of this, please e-mail.

Finally, after all this blabbering, I will list my requirements for the request e-mail below. This will save time, and help to keep me more organized. I have a head injury, and if I am getting dozens of e-mails and 2 people are named Beth, or something, I will get confused. This is my private e-mail, and there will be no sharing of info in any way. When I go for non-profit (unless the govt. makes it harder for me to share with people, then I won't), I may need info on the hardships situations of people who receive seed. In this case, I will still protect the uidentity of the person, but will request (beforehand) if I can use your story without your name. I do believe that is a long way off yet.

For the folks who donate, I would like to start a "Garden Angel" reward within the program. Right now, this is strictly in the idea phase. I will either make out certificates, or possibly have little gifts or something like that. I will happy to receive ideas in this area too. I have a website, so I will be adding pages there for this project. That way, people can see where their help is going. I would also love people to post stories and such their. Maybe someone has a community garden where they give the produce to those in need; they could post about that.

OK, enough. I think that covers everything. If anyone has a question, please e-mail me!
Thanks & Blessing to all of you!

1. E-Mail me at Robin282mt@verison.net
2. Subject lie should read "Need for Seed"
3. Inform whether you are donating or requesting.
4. If donating, I will send my address right out.
5. Donations should be sent to Need for Seed c/o me etc.
6. If receiving, how many people is the request for?
7. Recipients: list likes and dislikes as a guide
8. All should include any pertinent information possible
a. Gardenweb name & page
b. E-mail addresses, info on e-mail filters so that I
can e-mail you back.
b. YOUR ADDRESS: in the first e-mail please, this will
help me keep things straight. If I have a few people with the same name, I can make out the bubble mailers right away, and have the "likes & dislike" on a paper inside. Then I won't have to keep going through the e-mails to check. I do this because my short-term memory is not that good.

Keep in mind that most people have a name, a different name on their e-mail, and yet another for GW, all different! Please let me know this so I can keep it straight.

A thousand thank you-s to all!
Robin

Here is a link that might be useful: My Trade Page

Robin, Just wanted you to know how much you inspired me to help others. I enlisted my nephew's cub scout group to make small Square Foot planter boxes to give to 4 families in need. One family is a girl from work whose husband up and left her and her 2 1/2 year old daughter and the other 3 will go to a group called Focus Hope. Focus Hope feeds children between the ages of 0-5. We are taking applications/referrals for those 3 boxes to make sure the parent is willing to help/learn how to grow some of their own food.

The boxes measure just 2'x6' or 12 sq ft but will hold enough food for the kids to at least get a few fresh veggies a week. The boys and I are making up packages and instructions to go with the boxes which will be delivered and set up in early May by the boys. We had a dad offer to pick up and deliver compost for each of the boxes.

We plan on having the kids plant food they normally see, usually only in cans. They will get 6 corn seeds, 8 bean seeds of 2 different colors, homemade seed tape/paper containing some radishes and lettuce (made by the boys), 4 pea plants (started yesterday), a tomato cherry plant (I will start), and either a broccoli, sweet pepper, (both sprouted today) or zucchini plant. They will also get a couple flower plants since I have some mixed zinnia seeds.

I put word out today at work to save returnable bottles and I hope to turn those in to buy a trowel, 3 prong rake and watering can for the kids as well from the Dollar Store.

In addition, you are helping my daughter & husband, son, wife & 3 year old granddaughter and myself & husband. I in turn plan on sharing anything I have extra in my own garden with Focus Hope, even if only a few fresh beans a week for the kids to try.

So there you know that at least 7 families are to benefit from your generous offer. It may only be a small start but you may have started a revolution! Thanks!!! Kim

I am posting the initials and zip codes of where the first-round care packages are going. If you do not see your info there and you made a request, please do not hesitate to e-mail me again. As stated previously, my short-term memory gives me difficulty, so reminders are fine with me!

SS 68814
DO 96021
KH 48088
MA 30117
MM 44444

I did hear from someone in need, but I did not receive an address.

Kim,
Thanks for your post, I am glad you are doing something too!

Thanks to all for the support!
Robin

Delmonte cannot and does not make it cheaper. And certainly not better--or even as good.

There was a time when my babies were small that the only reason we were able to eat was that our landlord allowed us to dig up and plant the back yard to a vegetable garden. We bought the tomato and pepper plants, and seeds for everything else with our last 10 bucks. We used a borrowed tiller to break the soil, and I used a hoe to shape the rows--and I was 6 months pregnant with our third child. The Lord blessed that effort, and we never ate better--either before or since--than we did out of that little backyard garden. Not only did we have everything we needed, but we were able to share freely with neighbors, and I put away lots of frozen and canned produce that kept us well after we moved away from that spot.

The REAL myth is that one cannot garden and profit from it economically. Especially in these days of skyrocketting food prices. The truth is that home gardening and seed saving may very well be the skills that will enable many of us to survive.

Heirloomkeeper

Hi Kathy - This is a wonderful thing you are doing and I would be honored to send you some seeds to help out. Please email me your address.

Em

Thank you for doing this for so many that are geting back on there feet...I have bin doing a lot of reading on greenhouse so I can grow food all year.

Hello!
I will be going out of state today and will be on the road many hours. I will return Sunday. I should be able to answer e-mails, but I will not be able to pack seeds until I get home. Keep responding! Just know I will not be mailing again until the beginning of next week.
Thanks!
Robin

Robin

This was a great idea on your part! :) Freshly grown beats store bought any day! I'd much rather buy at the local Farmer's Market than any grocery store. Keep up the good work! :)

Mike

You are an inspiration!

I'm sending you an e-mail and when I get an address for you, expect some commercial seeds. I'll try to get seeds popular with kids.

If you have not already done so, you may want to post this message or a link at the following GW forums. I suspect you will find many generous doners at these sites. There may be a few families in need there as well.

Accessible Gardening
Edible Landscape
Potager Gardens
Vegetable Gardening
Square Foot Gardening

I hope your nonprofit status comes easily.

Squirrel Girl

Robin,

I've sent you an email.

Thank you SOOO much!! What a blessing!!!

Robin,

You have a heart as big as Texas! Maybe even larger. I believe you are providing a most useful service that has become so very necessary. Like others here, I wish to commend you for all the good you are doing for others.

I believe your idea will spread through many communities to help people you are not able to reach. I for one know that you have made me much more aware that we can all help others in some way even when we have little ourselves.

I will send you a private e-mail with both a need and a seed.
God bless you richly.
Tinymite

Robin,I`m sending you an email. Robin

Bump! I think it's a great thing your doing!

:-)

I have set up a group for my project, but it was rejected for spam.

This group will help me stay organized.

Please feel free to join by contacting me.
Robin

For those of you receiving seed. I was away for a few days, and I was waiting for a donation so that I could put a wider variety into the care packages. I delayed shipment to do that. Well, it is done, and I will be mailing tomorrow.
Here is the list of what is going out (initials & zip code):
SS 68814
DO 96021
KH 48088
MA 30117
MM 44444
WB 08527
ML 31562
WW 30157

Robin

Anyone else know of anyone else who needs seed?

Yes. Thanks for asking! There's a newbie in the round robin sponsor-a-newbie thread who posted recently, stating he wants food seed.

RE: UPDATE: sponsor a newbie
* Posted by michael67 6/NE OK (My Page) on
Thu, Mar 20, 08 at 0:42

NEWBIE here looking for a sponsor. Looking for seeds of edibles suited for zone 6 (NE Oklahoma) to help feed my large family. We live on 5 acres where I've tilled a good sized plot for a garden. I bought some seeds tonight and will update my Member Page soon. Thank you!

Here is a link that might be useful: TheClays.com

Feel free to email him and discuss donating to his project.

I am sending some of my extra food seeds to him too, once I get his address! (Emailed him yesterday, currently awaiting his reply.)

Thanks.

Thanks for the info GroveSpirit!

When working on-line I have discovered that several identities are involved for 1 person: the e-mail name, screen name, e-mail account name, and the real name.

Please include as much info as possible when you send seed so that a proper "Thank You!" can be conveyed.

Thanks to the following Garden Angels!:
TC 03242
R&J D 66739

Your contributions have been added to the outgoing care packages!
Many Thanks!
Robin

Anyone else?

I know times are tough, please let Need4Seed help. Do you have an older neighbor who gardens but cannot afford seeds right now? Perhaps someone has many children, and gasoline has eaten up their budget.

The seeds do not have to be specifically for you as long as they go to someone who cannot acquire their own just now.

Please e-mail me to receive, donate, or join Need4Seed.
Thanks,
Robin

Hi Robin

Just had to send my thanks to you and to let you know the seeds I received are very much appreciated. Now if the weather would just turn nice !!!!!! Many blessings to you.

Thankyou
Mary

You're welcome, Mary!
Robin & Donors

Anyone else?

ROUND 2 MAILED OUT

Initials and zipcodes fro Care Packages mailed out today:
NJK 29485
DG 07002
KLL 12529
LH 57735
DG 62674
BS 83629
M+JS 36005
B+JW64055
TW 17057
ML 31562

Thanks so much, and on Friday I will be mailing in the donations and envelopes :)
Leslie

Robin, you are so very sweet and God sees your heart, all blessings come back to you, you will see.. and lots of times not the way or in the form we could even envision. God bless you,, Beth:)

Thank you so much. I appreciate all the folks sending seed & receiving seed.
Robin

Anyone else?
Know of anyone else?

Round 3 mailed out!
The following people (by initials and zip code) have had their care packages sent:
CB 15001
JR 52101
BS 48146
KL 72542
TB 06360
CY 48629
CH 48041

Look for your seeds to arrive soon!
Robin et al

Any others?

Robin, please send me your address...I have some things for your daughter. Kim

Hi Robin,
I received my seeds today for my friends.
I just wanted to thank you on here as well.
I also posted on the Yahoo page.
You have a big heart!
Christie

Robin,

Just wanted to thank you for the seeds to share with others in the community. We are working on a community improvement that includes adding flowers to areas around town and also to work with some of the families in town to help them learn how to tend to gardens and raise food for their families. We have just started with this project so just another thing for me to work on. So will be on the search for more seeds for the families and also will do some work with the high school in doing classes with families.

Stacie

On Saturday, I shipped out to:
CT 43065
SD 14057

by initials & zip code

Robin,
What a beautiful idea, and how unselfish of you to donate so much time and effort to such a worthy cause! I do not have a garden right now but would like to simply buy some commercial seeds to donate. I too was a single mom for 4 years and know how hard it can be to give a child truly healthy meals on a budget.
I remember growing up in the country where my family borrowed a little plot from our neighbor to grow our own vegetables. Wish I had been old enough to remember more of the how-to part, lol! But I do remember pulling weeds, picking eyes off of potatoes stored in the cellar, walking between the rows of corn, and watching the watermelons get fat ;-) It just dawned on me that maybe that's why I've always loved veges, even as a kid - because I started with the freshest produce, and had the intimate experience of helping them grow myself! I hope I'll be able to give my son the same experience soon. In the meantime, as I will be purchasing the seed anyway, please send me an email and let me know if you have any specific requests.
Angela / mamma2max

Hi,
I am about a week behind in getting my mailing out. Major family issues has caused the delay. I will be mailing care packages out this Monday. If anyone is unsure if I have received their message, please e-mail me at Robin282mt@verizon.net. I do not mind a reminder at all.
Thanks,
Robin

I am mailing Round 5 of the care packages later today, or in the morning.

The following people are receiving:
AB 044433
BS 36279
TA 72315
EC 05735

I really hope that you may have more seeds to give away. I injured my knee in early 2007, and I have been unable to work sense then. My wife has been the sole provider for us, but we are just barely scraping by. If you have any seeds left my family would truly be grateful. Thank you for your time....Mike

Hi Mike,
I looked for your e-mail on your page, but could not find it. Please e-mail me at Robin282mt@verizon.net and put Need 4 Seed in the subject line.
Thanks,
Robin

I am still receiving donations, and shipping care packages.

Please help older folks in your neighborhood who might not be on-line. I am sure the soaring price of food and gas is affecting their inflexible budgets terribly.

Know a large family who gardens?

I am ready to send more care packages out.

Robin

The following have gone out:
CH 81321
MS 13619
IG 96789

I was going to offer some SASBEs of Herb and Veg seed, but I'll send them to you instead... I love what you're doing! If I had any extra money I'd donate for stamps... when I get to a more financially stable point I will. But for now I know I have some seed I can send. I'll email you when I am able to send them. Thank you for what you are doing!

Kim

Robin I emailed you, you are truly an angel!

I am saving seed for my garden now in preparation for mailing our care packages for the next season.

If anyone has vegetable, herb, fruit, & edible flower seeds they wish to donate, please contact me.

You are also more than welcome to visit the Need4Seed yahoo site to see what all this is about.

Thanks,
Robin

In the grocery store I saw one cucumber for 1.00 I about fell over !!!!

Yes, food has become a crazy commodity too. Not long ago--3 or 4 years--I could get pasta 3 for $1 on sale. Now $1 a box is considered a sale price! Only last year, 2 for $1 wasn't hard to find.

I did see this coming over the past few years. I want to help people who find themselves having to choose between food and gas to get to work, or food and medicine, or food and anything.

Not only does growing one's own food help the budget, it helps the soul. People feel good about growing their own; it provides a sense of independence.

We all hear about "locally grown" being better, well how about the backyard--can't get anymore local than that!

Things are tough right now for many. However, even when times aren't so tough in general, someone is struggling.

I am not wealthy, but this is dear to my heart, and it is what I can do. I have others helping too, and a nice community is developing.

Please join us if you have need or something to offer.

Once again, I state that I am willing to trade what I have in order to comply with this forum being for trades.
Thanks,
Robin

I am in need of some seeds, if you are still doing this, I am a single mom with a handicapped child. My son loves to garden, so far all we have gotten is flower seeds, but he is amused with how they grow... I am very sure he will love watching fruit and veggies grow... Money is very tight, I cannot work with him being severely handicapped, I have to be on call 24/7... Thanks in advance,
Dannette & Jordan

Dannette Rousseau
540 DE Brown Road
Brandenburg, KY 40108