Greenhouse Delivery Donation Supports Veterans

Through its nationwide network, CAP Logistics learned about a great way to connect customers while supporting veteran workforce education and domestic agriculture. CAP Logistics recently donated a customized transportation solution to the Growing Veterans program, transporting a greenhouse from its manufacturer in Minnesota to a Washington State farm where military veterans are growing more than just food.

Growing Veterans empowers military veterans to grow food, communities and each other. The nonprofit organization envisions an end the isolation that leads to suicide. It also seeks to make sustainable agriculture the norm. Growing Veterans currently operates three farms, but one of them was lacking a greenhouse which greatly limited its production capability.

Leadership Skagit County, an intensive program designed to develop leaders at all levels of the community, partnered with Growing Veterans to help fundraise for the needed greenhouse.

According to Leadership Skagit Team Blue Diamonds, the subgroup of Leadership Skagit leading this effort, its project goal is to “Raise That Roof” on a new greenhouse for Growing Veterans so that it can extend the growing season and provide a place for veterans of all abilities to heal, build community and grow delicious food. This goal involves not only fundraising but also building the structure.

The greenhouse’s journey began in Minnesota at Poly-Tex, Inc., manufacturer of greenhouses and display systems.

CAP Logistics loaded the new greenhouse and trucked it approximately 1,750 miles to its new home at the Growing Veterans Starbird Road Farm near Mt. Vernon, Washington.

Kenny Holzemer, Development Director of Growing Veterans, said that the nonprofit organization "is so grateful to CAP Logistics for taking delivery our new greenhouse as it came off the production line in Minnesota, and delivering it to the very spot where it will soon stand. The greenhouse CAP has brought will provide year round opportunities for disabled veterans to fully engage in Growing Veterans' organic agriculture on our Starbird Farm in South Skagit County, Washington State.” Please check out the Growing Veterans website at growingveterans.org.

Growing Veterans and Leadership Skagit Team Blue Diamonds are now in the process of assembling the greenhouse on a foundation. Volunteers have already “put up a good portion of it and will be coming together this weekend to finish the job,” according to Leadership Skagit Team Blue Diamonds Facebook page dedicated to this Raise The Roof project.

Team Blue Diamonds reported that they are extremely close to the fundraising goal of $11,000. Petroleum refining company Tesoro donated $6,000 through its foundation, and that is how CAP Logistics came to hear about it. To learn more or to make an investment in veterans and sustainable agriculture, use this secure link at https://secure.qgiv.com/for/gwgv/event/770388/.