The Human Services Campus has been granted the opportunity to plant an orchard!

However, they need YOUR VOTE to make this happen. Make a difference go to: http://www.communitiestakeroot.com.

Then click:

1. Vote Now

2. List by state

3. AZ-Phoenix, NOVA Safe Haven

4. Register Now (under remember me)

5. Register your user name and password

6. VOTE

You can vote every day through the end of May! Please see below for more information:

The Human Services Campus is located in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. The leaders from NOVA Safe Haven, Central Arizona Shelter Services, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Joseph the Worker, and Maricopa County Health Care for the Homeless came together in November 2005. Together, along with several other agencies, they formed a national model to provide collaborate services to the homeless population of Maricopa County.

Planting an orchard at the Human Services Campus will create a gardening experience and nutritional resources to the area's disadvantaged. It will supplement the daily meals served on the Campus with fresh produce grown by those who will consume it. All Campus agencies and the individuals they serve will collaborate for this shared gardening experience. The invaluable skills learned from the consistency of gardening will help to reintroduce and reintegrate homeless individuals back into mainstream society, by increasing their self-confidence and self-sufficiency. A consistent schedule of watering and tending to an orchard will teach stability and regularity. Planting an orchard on the Human Services Campus will give homeless individuals an opportunity to be seen by the community as helping themselves and improving their own situation by growing their own food. The Human Services Campus, through NOVA Safe Haven, deserves an orchard because it embodies an innovative idea for helping the homeless.