Online votes can help Westside Ministries win $100,000 to expand its Turlock garden
Westside Ministries of Turlock is one of five finalists for a $100,000 grant from the Kubota tractor company.
Online public voting through June 25 will decide the winner of the nationwide contest.
Westside would use the money to expand a community garden that provides low-income residents with fresh food, and children with gardening skills. Winter crops would join what is now mainly a summer bounty.
The nonprofit serves mostly city folks from its Columbia Street headquarters, but it has a strong ag streak. Children raise fruits, vegetables, flowers, goats, chickens and hogs on four acres across two sites.
The gardening helps some kids deal with trauma in their lives. Westside also has its own Grange chapter.
“We need our Valley to back us and vote daily in order to compete for this money,” Executive Director Jolynn DiGrazia said by email Tuesday. “We are hoping to win and purchase implements that will allow us to continue the restorative practices we began two years ago.”
The voting started Monday and will run through 9:59 p.m. Pacific time June 25. Each supporter can vote once a day on the Kubota website, www.kubotausa.com/hometown-proud-vote.
The website has a video and more information about each group seeking the grant. Modesto Bee readers also can link to a story and video about how Westside Ministries responded to COVID-19 last year.
Jolynn and husband Joe DiGrazia founded the group in 1984. It provides social services, recreation, bible study and other activities.
Kubota USA is based in Grapevine, Texas. Its dealers include Garton Tractor of Turlock, which has 10 locations around Northern California.
Kubota received nearly 400 entries for the first-ever grant program, dubbed Hometown Proud. The other finalists are:
- A Police Activities League camp in Willard, Missouri
- A community garden run by Habitat For Humanity in Akron, Ohio
- A training program for farmers in Collinwood, Tennessee
- The site of the Bexar County Junior Livestock Show and Auction in Texas.
Voters will be entered automatically into drawings for a mower or sub-compact tractor from Kubota.
