Blueberry Donations Tally, Week 1
In the week since the community blueberry project launched, neighbors in Forest Heights (and one in Hampton Park) have donated enough money to install approximately 18 blueberry bushes!
The money received through Venmo to date is $445. That doesn’t include several commitments to mail donations via checks, or a donation of two potted blueberry bushes, and an offering of 200 feet of wire that we may be able to use for deer cages.
To date, approximately 28 people have donated or committed to making a donation. Roughly a dozen people have offered to help install the bushes when the time arrives, and more than 30 people have offered their yards for hosting blueberry patches!
What does this mean for the project?
It means the project is off to a great start!
We will have a minimum of 20 bushes to install in Forest Heights. With two weeks left in the fundraising window, the final tally will likely be significantly higher.
Also, with so many yards offered for hosting, we should be able to select ideal locations that have good sunshine and are spread throughout the neighborhood. At the minimum, a blueberry patch will need four bushes in order to have two early- and two late-season varieties that can cross pollinate one another.
Depending on the amount of space and plants available, we may plant as eight bushes in a single location. This would help ensure there are enough berries for lots of neighbors within walking distance.
What about Newtown?
The other neighborhood participating in the project, Newtown, is much smaller than Forest Height—130 homes, compared to almost 500. Their flyers didn’t go out until Wednesday of last week, and they don’t have a robust online group to spread the word, like Forest Heights has on Facebook. As a result, the donations there are coming in more slowly.
People from other Athens neighborhoods have also inquired about participating in the project. We’ve thanked them for their interest and promised to support them with information and assistance, if they decide to lead similar projects in their neighborhoods next fall.
In order to maximize donations in Forest Heights and Newtown before the end of November, we need help spreading the word. We’ll hold a virtual meeting Sunday, November 22 from 5-6 p.m. to introduce ourselves and answer questions. I’ll share details for joining the call soon.
