There’s a lot of good in this world. There’s a lot of good in our local community. I bet you know people who volunteer, and maybe you also volunteer. Maybe with coaching a children’s sport, or tutoring children or youth who need extra help, or helping adults learn how to read or speak English, or serving meals to the homeless, or donating supplies to shelters, or helping with animal rescue shelters, or helping fix or build homes for those in need, or visiting with the sick, or…the list goes on. They’re all awesome & worthy! They’re all doing good. They all need financial support.
It’s truly no exaggeration that our farm receives over 100 requests for donations every year. I never want to say no. Every request is for the good of our community. I want to help each organization. Imagine if we donated $100 to each of those requests….$10,000. It adds up quickly. And, we actually do donate over $10,000 to non-profits every year but we do it through partnership.
Much thought has been put into a plan to find a way to help as many of these worthy groups as possible. And here’s that plan – we say YES to partnering with non-profit organizations in a way that is mutually beneficial. There’s several options listed below. Check them out and then contact us (Karen@MtAiryOrchards.com) for more information and to see if you qualify. We truly look forward to helping you help others in need!
In 2022 we made charitable donations over $10,000, some of which include $2,500 to the Harrisburg Food Pantry, $2,250 to Hope Walks, $1,500 to Radiant Hope, $1,140 to Agape Christian Homeschool, $465 to Navy Supply Corp and numerous other organizations such as Compassion International, CURE, Ten Thousand Villages, Upper Allen Kiwanis, Church World Services, and others.
In 2021 we made charitable donations over $10,000, some of which include $2,500 to the Harrisburg Food Pantry, $2000 to Hope Walks, $1400 to Radiant Hope, and $870 to Navy Supply Corp.
In 2020, we made a number of charitable donations of over $6,000, some of which include $1500 to Hope Walks, $1250 to the Harrisburg Ecumenical Food Pantry, $600 to Word FM, and $420 to CURE International.
In 2019, we made charitable donations of $13,417.00; some of which included $2625 to the Navy Supply Corp., $2,300 to the Harrisburg Ecumenical Food Pantry, $1950 to the West Shore Youth Athletic Assoc., $1,550 to New Hope Ministries, $420 to Messiah College Engineering Collaboratory Project, $420 to Hope Grace Brethren Church, $360 to Upper Allen Kiwanis, $360 to Dover Elementary School, and $180 to Greenlight Operation.
In 2018, we made charitable donations of $13,502.00; some of which included $3615 to the West Shore Youth Athletic Assoc., over $3,000 to CURE International, over $2,000 to the Navy Supply Corp., over $2,000 to the Harrisburg Ecumenical Food Pantry, over $500 to the Upper Allen Kiwanis, and over $400 to Messiah College Engineering Collaboratory Project.
In 2017, we made charitable donations of $11,260.00; some of which included over $3,000 to CURE International, $2,000 to the Harrisburg Ecumenical Food Pantry, $1500 to the Navy Supply Corp., $1450 to the West Shore Youth Athletic Assoc., over $400 to the Upper Allen Kiwanis, and $360 to the Friends of Murray Library at Messiah College.
Fall Volunteers:
October is by far the busiest month of the year at the orchard and September is a close second. How do you hire enough people for several crazy weekends when you need half that amount of staff for the rest of the year? It’s a blessing to have people come and visit us…it’s also hard to adequately staff for some of the fall weekends. So…your group can help us by volunteering. Duties may include handing out u-pick bags, returning wagons to the pumpkin patch, greeting guests at the corn maze, helping at the admission shed, washing dishes, helping serve food, changing out trash bags, etc. Volunteer shifts are typically 4-hour shifts during weekends in September and October. We request a minimum of 16 total hours per organization. Minimum age to volunteer is 18. Volunteers will earn $15/donated hour for your organization. In the event of rain we will not need volunteers, but we appreciate the commitment you have made and we will still make a charitable donation to your organization in the amount of $15 for every assigned shift that is canceled due to rain.
Fruit Sale:
You take advance orders from your friends and family for peaches or apples (1/4 and 1/2 peck are the most common size and biggest area of profit for you). We will provide you with the crates of fruit as well as the drawstring bags for you to package the orders. You sell the fruit at retail cost (or even slightly higher to increase your profit; we will provide you with guidance on this) and we sell you the fruit at wholesale cost. Minimum order is 10 crates of fruit. 1 crate = 1 half bushel = 2 pecks = 4 half pecks = 8 quarter pecks. Estimated profit for 10 crates is approximately $250.
Gift Certificate Mailing:
Your members win by getting a $5 gift certificate to use at the orchard and your non-profit wins by getting a donation worth 10% of all the sales generated from those certificates! We’ll create a letter from you and get your approval on it. Then, after you approve, you provide us with a mailing list of the members and supporters of your organization and we will cover the cost of mailing them a $5 gift certificate and the letter explaining how it all benefits you. The gift certificates do not expire, but we will donate 10% of the sale for every purchase made within 2-weeks of sending out the certificates.
After Hours Party:
Let’s have a party! Invite your members to an after-hours event from 7pm-8pm. We’ll provide fun snacks and drinks and a place for your group to hang out, have fun, and relax! No sales pitch…this isn’t a “show.” Just a party with friends. 15% of any purchases made during this event will then be donated to your organization.
Corn Maze Tickets: We will create a code for you to give to your supporters that they can use to take $1 off each ticket they purchase for the Fall Fun Admission Area. We will give them $1 off but give you $2 for each ticket purchased. Valid for all September weekends and the last weekend of October. (Not valid for the first 3 weekends of October because we are extremely busy those weekends.)
Have a different idea? We would love to hear it. Let us know and we can start making a plan to help you raise funds!
