LET THE EARTHLY FESTIVITIES BEGIN....

Hi Everyone!! 

We hope you all have had a wonderful week thus and are looking forward to what the weekend has in store for us. 

Like we have informed you all, SEEED attended Knoxville's Earthfest this past Saturday at the World's Fair Park. We had a lot of fun! It was really great to see other folks and talking to people about what we do. There were some people who were living in Knoxville who had little to no idea that our organization exists and so we realize that we definitely need to start stepping up our outreaching game. Other than that, everything else was great! We got some goodies to take home. Here are few photos and a little video for you to feast your eyes. And if you didn't attend, you missed out on a whole lot, but hey, there's always next next, which we can't wait for!

On another note, Seeedville celebrated Earth Day, which was on Wednesday, by having volunteers from Knox County Sheriff's Office coming out and pressure wash the facility, mow the grass, painted the retainer walls, and fixed our broken doors out back. It took up pretty much the entire day, but, hey, why complain, when they are doing this out of this kindness of their hearts. And so, we want to give them a huge shoutout for taking the time out of their day to help us get the exterior of our facility to look more appealing. 

We are grateful to all of you for your continuous support of the organization. The views on blogs are significantly increasing. We have over 400 views, in not just the U.S., but various other parts of the globe. So, we encourage you to continue your view support. As for social media, we are still just an inch away from reaching our 1000 LIKES for the year. So, be a good sport and like our Facebook Page. We have a lot of good stuff happening on their. Things that we haven't put into these posts. So, stay current and informed. You can also visit our website for any news/upcoming events around the organization. 

That's all for this week, folks. We sincerely hope you all are having a great work week, and that your weekend will be a tremendous one. 

Until next time. 

+Seeed Knox 

LET'S TALK GREEN....

Hi, Guys!!! 

How's everyone doing today? Enjoying the beautiful day? We hope you all are!

As for this week's update at Seeedville, SEEED has been up to fun and exciting stuff. We attended the Knoxville Home Energy Fair, hosted by CAC. It was really cool to see all the other businesses that are providing the same services that we do. Most importantly, we were extremely impressed to see homeowners taking the time out of their busy Monday afternoon to drop in and learn some really cool energy saving techniques or to even just support the organizations that they are already familiar with. One thing that we thought could have made this more appealing to community member; since we were targeting mostly low-to moderate-income communities, was to host the event in a more remote location that would have bring in more residents. Other than that, everything went well. SEEED has a few people stopped by our table, wanting to learn about what we do. So, it felt good being able to share what our organization does best.  Here are few photos to show you how much fun we had at the Energy Fair. 

As for other exciting things that are happening in SEEED's world, Stan, our executive director, was invited by Appalachia Funders to serve on a panel discussion about the future of the green economy and what roles do organizations, like SEEED, will be playing this. Below are a few photos of Stan and his fellow panelists. Also, there is a photo of Stan and Josh Outsey, one of our four founders of SEEED. Josh is currently serving as a Highlander Fellow. So, now he's in Kentucky, with hopes to be back at the start of summer. Hopefully, his return will help SEEED get back on track and in the direction it needs to do. 

In our list of photos from the event, we'd like to bring your attention to the photo of a tweet from the Appalachia Funders, quoting Stan on the importance of connecting people to issues that are currently on the discussion table. This says a lot about where Stan's passion comes from and why he's driven to ensure that the voices of the people are being heard. 

This week is going by extremely fast. It's already Thursday, which means that the weekend is fast approaching. Do you guys have anything fun planned for the weekend? Interested in learning what Seeedville will be doing this Saturday? Well, since you asked, we'll be in attendance at the Knoxville Earthfest, which is on Saturday at World's Fair Park. It should be starting around 10 and end around 6-ish. So, if you're in Knoxville this Saturday, and you're looking for something fun and exciting to do throughout the day, we strongly encourage you to come by. We'll be at one of their tables. So, stop by and see what we have going on. 

That's all for this week, folks. We're still raising money to fix our facility's broken windows. So, we are still accepting donations on GoFuneMe. Also, Our goal is to reach 1,000 like on Facebook. So, we strongly encourage you to go on over to our page. Check us out. We are staying relatively current with our updates. So, do help our Social Media Coordinator, Summer Gregory, reach her goal of 1,000 likes. 

Seeedville wishes for you all a very productive rest of the day and a very funfilled weekend. Whatever you do, be sure to stay safe and look out for each other; whomever they may be. 

Until next time. 

+Seeed Knox 

HAPPY EARTH MONTH (APRIL IS EARTH MONTH... )!!!

Hi Guys!!

We hope that for those of us who are experiencing Spring/summer seasons are enjoying the beautiful sunshine that we're getting here in Knoxville. 

Not much has happened at Seeedville this past week. We have been really trying to increase our efforts to renovate the facility. So, mostly this week has been a lot of walking around outside and looking at what needs to be done both on the interior and exterior of the building.

We're really HAPPY this it is spring! The flowers are looking magnificently beautiful!

But like most of us know, April is Earth Month!! We don't know about you, but SEEED is sincerely grateful to have at least one month dedicated to truly acknowledge the earth and all that she has been doing for us. 

Fun Fact: Did you know that Earth Day was first introduced by the EPA on April 22, 1970? 

On this day, millions of Americans gathered to partake in the various celebrations that were put forth to recognizing the earth. In addition to having Americans fully invested in this new-found ideology, politicians, even started including "environmentalism" into their political platforms. 

Now, 4 and 1/2 decades later, the Earth is still subjected to the capitalistic ideals of man. But on the brighter side, we have come a long way in terms of protecting the earth. Now there are policies put in place that basically prohibits man from destroying. And while that is sign of process, we still have long ways to go, if we want this Earth to be sustained for future generations. 

Looking for things to do throughout the month of April to show your appreciation of Mother Earth? Well, here in Knoxville, Earthfest will be on Saturday, April 18th, Downtown; starting at 10:00 a.m. It's not impossible to find local events around your communities that are dedicated to celebrating Earth Day. So, get out there and join in the celebration. Dont forget to take those #selfies and those #hastags #EarthDay :)

That's all for this week, folks. Still looking for ways to continue supporting Seeedville? Well, please LIKE us on Facebook-we can't stress how important it is to have facebook supporters. Also, we are still dormantly fundraising for our building renovation. So, feel free to donate. No amount is too small. 

Have a fantastic weekend. 

+Seeed Knox 

When Your Service Does More Harm Than Good...

Hello, Everyone!

It’s been awhile since we last wrote, but we're am sure that you haven’t missed much; since we are constantly trying our best to keep you all up-to-date about what’s been happening at SEEED on our social media.

As you were already made aware, SEEED celebrated its sixth birthday, and the turnout was tremendous. We reached ¼ of our targeted goal, but since the event, we have been steadily making progress towards hitting that mark. For this post, we'll talk more about the minor, but impactful strides that we are making in regards to our renovation efforts. We'll also talk about bit about our Job Readiness Program, which at the moment seems to be a huge drag.

In previous posts, we have made some inclining to the fact that we are trying to install our computer lab. Since we last wrote, we had the desks installed and we had some gorgeous bar stools donated to add to the décor of our lab. At the turn of the new year, SEEED had been working with the University of Tennessee for computer donation. Last Thursday, we received a total of eight desktop computers free of charge. Now, we just need to work with our friends over at Neighborhood Nerds to get the software for each computer updated, and we should be good to go. With the desktops and a printer added, the lab looks sophisticated. See for yourself:

In addition to fully installing our computer lab, we have been working with Tennessee College of Applied Technology to “modernize” our heating and air systems. This is also tied into our building renovation efforts. And so, we are hoping that by the time we get closer to summer, we’ll have our HVAC system fixed and functioning like it should. Right now, we were told that the total cost will be $4,373.00, which itself could call for another fundraising event.

As for the organizational atmosphere, SEEED has been putting in a lot of effort into writing grants. SEEED’s partnership with the Morningside Housing Association is to serve as a Green Hub for all of East Knoxville. This hub is for residents to gain access to resources that focus on energy efficiency, sustainability and other initiatives that promote environmental literacy among our communities. Hence, we've written a grant to Bank of America for assistance in funding this project. Although we did not receive to total amount requested, we are grateful for the Foundation’s generosity in supporting SEEED’s efforts. We are also looking at other funding opportunities that will support to Morningside Revitalization Project that SEEED is in the process of spearheading. This project is also tied into our current interest—both the interior and the exterior renovation of the facility.

In regards to programming, we have run into yet another stumbling block. We've spent the last three months planning and coming up with recruitment efforts that will ensure the success of the program. Yet, after hours of recruiting in surrounding communities, and many phone calls, we had a total of 8 individuals showing interest in our program. However, when the first day came around, we had only two showed up. It’s been really stressful to see that all that work resulted in naught.

As the VISTA in charge of programming, it’s like I have spent this entire year trying to build something that will eventually be sustained, but on not one, but three tries, I seemed to have failed miserably. Now, with all of this, I am starting to question why I am even here in the first place. It really sucks when you are constantly being reminded about the successes that the program has had, but since I have been here, that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. When I do something, I expect result because I am a results-driven individual. But that hasn't been happening for some time now. Don’t get me wrong, I do love being here. I do enjoy my job. I think that this experience is teaching me a lot about myself.

As VISTAs, we’re always being reminded that the experience is worthwhile, but is it really worth anything when I am probably doing more harm than good to the organization?

On the bright side, I am trying to find ways to remedy any potential damages that I may have caused the organization. I am currently looking into other ways that SEEED could potentially grow: through established summer opportunities for children and young adults. I am also looking into ways that we can turn our edible garden into an educational tool for community residents. So, I hope that by the completion of my year of service that I’ll have at least given the organization another reason to prosper.

Side note: it’s getting awfully close to May 22^nd! While I am really excited that I am less than two months away from successfully completing my year of service, I know that there’s still a lot left to be done. But in due time, it’ll all come together.

That’s all for now, y’all! For those of us celebrating the Easter Festivities, I wish for a very HAPPY Easter weekend. And for those of us who aren't celebrating, I wish for you a very relaxing and fun weekend.

Until next time,

+Seeed Knox