Growing a Community with Mill City Grows
April 25, 2023
We share a passion for our members and community: that’s our common thread.
Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union is pleased to present Mill City Grows with a $1,500 donation, as the winner of the organization’s first-quarter Give-A-Click campaign.
The Give-A-Click program runs quarterly on the We Share a Common Thread Foundation website (WSACT.com). Community members visit the site, learn about the worthy non-profit contestants, and cast their votes for the organization they would like to support. The program with the most votes at the end of the quarter is awarded a $1,500 donation from the Foundation. The first-quarter nominees included Mill City Grows, Incompass Human Services, and Dwelling House of Hope.
Established in 2011, Mill City Grows aims to provide fresh, locally grown food and educational resources to residents of Lowell. They have eight community gardens, where community members can come together and grow food for themselves and their families. They also focus on educating local children, by collaborating with Lowell schools to create gardens that serve thousands of kids every school year.
At the heart of Mill City Grows is its Urban Farm Program, which spans over 4 acres, and produces more than 30,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables for the community. The food is distributed through their mobile markets that travel to areas throughout the city to help people access fresh, locally sourced food. Jeanne D’Arc’s recent donation will allow Mill City Grows to continue to serve the community while also updating its gardens to better meet the needs of the people they serve.
“The $1,500 will help get materials and tools to build and update our community gardens, that way we can continue to help others in our communities,” said Enrique Vargas, Mill City Grows Associate Director.
”Making fresh produce available to the City is such a unique and valuable asset helping so many in our area,” said Mark S. Cochran, President and Chief Executive Officer at Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union. “We value what Mill City Grows brings to our neighborhoods and based on the votes they received, so does the community”
Community members can now cast their vote for Jeanne D’Arc’s second quarter Give-A-Click nominees. The nominees for this quarter’s campaign are Greater Lawrence Fellowship of the Arts, Lowell Litter Krewe, and Children’s Dyslexia Center-Boston North.
About Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union:
Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union was established in 1912 and is a full-service, community-based financial cooperative. Locally owned by 95,000 members with $2 billion in assets, Jeanne D’Arc operates eight full-service branches in Lowell, Dracut (2), Tyngsboro, Chelmsford, Methuen, and Westford, Massachusetts, and Nashua, New Hampshire; high-school branches at Lowell High, Dracut High, and Nashua High School South; a loan center in Lowell; and a mortgage center in Chelmsford. Follow Jeanne D’Arc on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.