A Letter from Chip – A Goal for the New Year!
January 2019
Dear Friends,
Happy New Year! For those of you who set a personal New Year’s resolution and goal earlier this month, I hope you are still part of that very small and proud group who are still on track for success. Traditionally, how small of a group is following through with their resolutions at this point of the month you ask? According to a recent article on the Forbes website, statistically speaking the chances of accomplishing your goal are quite slim. The article states that studies have shown that less than 25% of people actually stay committed to their resolutions after just 30 days, and only 8% accomplish their resolutions. Most people tend to lose focus when their goals are too big, so smaller and more attainable goals are most effective. And having others support and encourage you as you look to accomplish your goal helps too.
Setting one’s sights on a small, yet impactful goal for 2019 reminded me of events at one of our recent youth education sessions at an underserved area here in New Jersey. Our teachers were enthusiastically teaching a group of 10-year-olds about agriculture, the benefits of healthy eating, and how we grow fruits and vegetables for those who don’t have access to them here at our farm. At the beginning of the presentation, some of the children asked where we were from, and we told them America’s Grow-a-Row, the farm they visited last summer. Instantly the kids lit up! Nearly all of them had been on the trip and were remembering the different things they picked. One girl even turned to her friends and exclaimed, “Remember the corn?!” and they all got excited recalling how sweet the corn was. One of the children was new to the program and said, “I didn’t go to the farm, but I really, really, hope I can this summer!” The other kids encouragingly told him how great it would be when he got to go. For that little boy, coming to the farm is an awesome goal worth striving for!
And you too can set your sights on making a simple goal of coming out to the farm and supporting America’s Grow-a-Row this year. Whether your goal is to physically help us by planting, harvesting, or delivering produce or to assist with education in the classroom and at the farm or to offer financial support that helps fuel the 6 million servings of produce we grow for those who are faced with hunger and food insecurity, know that your help can make a difference in the lives of thousands.
So, if you did not complete your New Year’s resolution or goal this year, or even if you are still on track to do so, it’s not too late to commit to coming out to America’s Grow-a-Row! After all, supporting our mission is a small and very attainable goal that will have a huge and lasting impact not only on those we serve but hopefully on you too!
Thank you for your support and see you in the fields!
Chip
President & Founder
Hi and happy new year Chip. I hope all is good with you and your family, and may 2019 be your best year ever. Relative to your pounds supplied, how many 18 wheelers would that fill?9 million pounds obviously is a huge number, but hard for me to visualize. Knowing that those fruits and veggies would fill up X 18 wheelers, that would stretch for the length of X football fields, that is something I can visualize. My son’s sub is like 570 feet long. That is big!! But being almost as large as two football fields, now, in my opinion, that is HUGE. See you in the fields Chip, Chris
Hi Chris and Happy New Year to you too! That’s a great question. Using an average of around 35,000 pounds of produce per tractor trailer, it would be around 264 trucks. Each trailer/cab is about 70 feet on average, which is 18,480 feet, or 3.5 miles, or 61.6 football fields …Keep in mind that the tractor trailer is filled floor to ceiling, wall to wall! Hope that helps put things into perspective. We couldn’t move that much produce without volunteers helping out in the fields like you! – Chip