Karma for Cara Microgrants help fund exceptional service projects led by youth 18 years of age and under working to better their communities. Read about the community garden created by microgrant recipients Lauren and Grace. 

1. What inspired you to start this project?

This project was inspired by the idea of creating a sense of community throughout our high school and in the special needs department to further create awareness on the importance of sustainable practices. Doing this by using the visual representation of growing your own food organically along with the future projects including a compost and water harvesting system allows a better medium to educate the students in the special department and campus wide. Also, gardening is proven to be therapeutic to people with disabilities like autism, and I have witnessed that positive impact first hand.

2. Why is your work important to you?

My work is important to me because I believe the preservation of the Earth and all of its the ecosystems is of the upmost importance, and it is our duty to acknowledge the countless ecological and environmental detriments we have made the Earth endure. Although we now cannot revert what we have done, I believe it is vital that we attempt to create a habitable world for ourselves and try to hinder any further damages by making a sustainable changes on a personal level.

3. How did the money from the microgrant help with your project?

The microgrant was instrumental for the Best Buddies project during the startup; using some of it to cover the costs of the gardening tools, soil, and seeds the first season. Without the microgrant, we would have unable to start the garden the season we did.

4. What message of giving back do you have for others?

I strongly believe giving back on any scale is worthwhile and vitally important. Beginning within your own community is a good start, so you can personally experience the benefit of the charitable act with your community members; and to see for yourself the difference you made. Giving back on a smaller scale is something that if was respected more within present day society, we would really begin to see a difference if the people within each community gave back and was focused on its own betterment; rather than focusing on only the betterment of oneself. Small triumphs toward community betterment, like the Best Buddies Garden, can snowball into truly making an immense difference. But, we have to also look beyond our own communities; we have to selflessly look at other people that are in need and help them without needing the affirmation and approval of others.