Many parents and family members would shower a baby with gifts for their first birthday, but Angie and Michael Hempel wanted to do something different to celebrate their son Corbin's first birthday. Instead of presents, the family is hoping to raise $2,400 to provide solar panels for City Sprouts.
"Corbin has enough toys and clothes, so we wanted a way to give back to our community, while also creating a better future for him," said Angie.
City Sprouts is Omaha's oldest community garden. The non profit's learning center also offers education like cooking classes, gardening plans, and workshops to learn about green energy. The solar panels the Hempels want to pay for would be mainly used to education about sustainability.
"We want to open minds to energy alternatives other than coal," said Roxanne Williams Draper, Executive Director at City Sprouts.
"We believe in the organization's mission of sustaining community through gardening, and we want to help ensure the planet is in good health for Corbin's generation, and generations to come," Angie said. "This is our small way of doing that."
Omaha based Red Basket is also helping. RedBasket is a web-based, non-profit 501(c)(3) public charity whose mission is to help individuals raise money for personal emergencies and community improvement projects in a fee-free environment. WoodmenLife covers Red Basket's administrative costs in their entirety so 100% of donations are directly passed through to the cause.
To help meet their goal, the Hempels have created an online fundraising page through RedBasket.org to raise the $2,400 needed to purchase and install the solar panels. Their fundraiser will be online through February 15.
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