Each year, Austin-area businesses give back to the local community
through the annual Entrepreneurs
Foundation Spring Service Day. Considered one of the largest annual
volunteer efforts in Austin, this year’s event is being held today,
during which more than 600 volunteers from 23 local companies and their
affiliates – including lead sponsor Convio,
an Austin-based company recently acquired by Blackbaud
– will help build the Sustainable
Food Center’s (SFC) first teaching garden in central Texas.
"Convio has always taken the lead in corporate citizenship here in
Austin,” said Eugene Sepulveda, CEO of the Entrepreneurs Foundation.
“And today, 95 of their team members are leading an additional 500
volunteers from 23 companies in giving back. Heck, more than giving back
– building and creating. The best companies in Austin nurture their
corporate souls in ways that improve Austin."
Located on 2.3 acres of land donated by the Meredith family in the
Chestnut neighborhood of East Austin, the community garden will serve
local and area residents with an abundance of fresh, healthy food
options and educational resources. The teaching garden is part of a
larger development in East Austin geared toward a sustainable model of
living and working. The Spring Service Day volunteers will lay the
foundation for the garden’s planting to begin as early as Fall 2012. The
garden will be part of a program that includes a commercial kitchen and
nutrition center.
Studies show that in the United States there are actually more obese
than starving children. With obesity strongly linked as a contributor of
cancer, SFC’s mission is to provide a comprehensive “seed to table”
approach to strengthen the local Austin food system. “We can’t express
our gratitude enough to the Austin community,” said Ronda Rutledge,
executive director of the Sustainable Food Center. “We’ve had this
vision for a teaching garden as part of our permanent site for many
years.