Jan. 8—BEMIDJI — Going on five years strong, Growing Our Future continues to grow its own future.
Since earning nonprofit status in 2023, the community program has sought to expand its offerings of free seasonal gardening kits and resources to local youth.
Bemidji State University’s Bridget Westrum has spearheaded the organization’s activities since its inception. Westrum kickstarted Growing Our Future after taking up backyard gardening during the summer of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic causing her to spend more time at home.
After receiving much community support, donations and a grant from the
Minnesota Youth Council
to support the first round of distribution, she wanted to continue the “green gifting” and encourage youth to embrace a love of gardening.
Alongside a nine-person board of directors, Westrum has no plans to stunt its growth.
“In our time operating, we’ve given out over a thousand free gardening kits to area youth, reaching around 600 families,” Westrum said. “This is our first time back in two years doing the herb gardening kits as last year, we chose to focus on becoming a nonprofit instead of doing that kit cycle.”
Completing all necessary paperwork, making phone calls to the Internal Revenue Service and paying appropriate fees took away time and resources from Growing Our Future’s herb fund account, which allocated money to those specific kits.
“But now, we seem to be right back on track,” Westrum added, “ready to function accordingly and hopefully get more kits out.”
Increasing demand for the gardening kits necessitated the organization’s decision to become a 501(c)3.
“When I started, I was like ‘We’ll do 30 of these and see what happens.’ Now, we usually have a limit of 200 kits that can go out at a time,” Westrum detailed. “This has grown exponentially, so two years ago, we decided ‘Well, there’s nowhere else to go but up.'”
Based on high demand, the program’s first distribution cycle delivered 135 gardening kits to area youth. Fast forward to the beginning of January, Growing Our Future invites youth ages 18 and under to apply for herb gardening kits on a first-come, first-serve basis. Due to limited funding, kits are limited to one per child.
Exclusively supported by donations, the number of kits may change based on increased donations and demand. Growing Our Future accepts donations on its
“Growing Our Future: Free Gardening Kits for Youth” GoFundMe page.
Each kit includes a window pot, seeds, a grow light, plant labels, soil and a spray bottle. Those interested in a kit should fill out an
application form,
which can be found on the
Growing Our Future Facebook page
or at
growingourfuturemn.com.
Growing Our Future coordinates with local businesses to distribute kits once available and are projected to be ready by the end of January.
As it moves forward in the new year, Westrum hopes to forge relationships with area businesses and organizations to ensure consistent funding for Growing Our Future. In doing so, she aims to diversify the types of gardening kits available to youth beyond the herb gardening kits given in the winter months and the starter gardening kits for the summer.
“In an ideal world, we would do a spring gardening kit, then a pollinator gardening kit followed by a perennial kit in the fall,” Westrum said. “That would be really awesome, but before that can happen, we obviously need money. So we’ve been applying for a lot more grants and sending out a lot more letters to local organizations and businesses as well as some that are nationwide.”
As she heads into her final semester at BSU, Westrum yearns to maintain her involvement with Growing Our Future — working closely alongside her board of directors in the process.
“They decide when we distribute the kits, when we apply for grants and all that kind of stuff. I’m just kind of the figurehead, I guess,” she said lightheartedly, “and I work with them very closely to make sure we’re doing what we need to be doing.”
With no succinct post-graduation plans, Westrum’s passion for plants will continue to guide her throughout much of her life’s pursuits.
“The only issue that will come is if I leave the area, which I’m not looking to do right now,” Westrum left off. “I really hope to maintain my involvement.”