None of us need reminding that 2020 has been quite a year! On a farm, we are keenly aware of the changing of seasons. Right now, we are completing our cover cropping, cleaning up from the season, and turning our focus toward crop planning for next spring. As we enter the season of shorter days and longer nights, many of us bring light inside our homes through our various holiday traditions. It feels like a time to “tuck in” a bit, perhaps especially so this year, as we are challenged to keep ourselves, those we love, and our communities safe and well.

I am proud of our young small farm. Through the perseverance of a handful of dedicated volunteers and staff, Common Roots Farm donated over 2,000 pounds of fresh produce, 60 heads of lettuce, and 70 bunches of flowers for people in our community experiencing hunger during this pandemic. This is but one example of the many ways people have stepped up to help others during this time and it inspires me. Our board is committed to continuing this effort, and we take heart knowing people with disabilities are directly providing support to neighbors in need.

Here, people with and without disabilities work our land together. Farm-based opportunities for learning, building social networks, and producing food and flowers the whole community values are virtually endless.

If you spent time with us this year, wearing a mask and working in our fields, we thank you. You helped grow the produce we were able to share.

If you became a CSA member, your support allowed us to grow healthy food and organic flowers in an ecologically sustainable way, and we thank you.

If you made a donation to the farm, you directly helped Carson and Matthew, our two young employees with disabilities, obtain meaningful work, and we thank you.

If you bought our farm products, or are still considering doing so, you help us take a significant step toward financial self sufficiency, and we thank you.

All of you can, I hope, take pride in knowing you are an important part of broadening opportunities for those living with intellectual/developmental disabilities. There is a direct line between you and Common Roots Farm's ability to fulfill our mission. If you find you are able to support us with a year end donation, please know that every gift of any size matters to us. We will put your donations to good use! We thank you.

CRF: How did the Helpers Artisan Boutique come about?

Marilyn: The idea of a retail space featuring handcrafted items made by adults with developmental disabilities started 45-plus years ago when an Activity Center was created in conjunction with three Helpers Residence homes in San Francisco. From 1966 to 2002, residents from the homes developed their sewing skills and created beautiful handmade items at the Activity Center. In 1966, Ghirardelli Square invited Helpers to host a weekend bazaar to sell handmade items and other donated items from Helpers supporters. Pop-up bazaars were held at Ghirardelli Square until 1974 when Ghirardelli offered to donate permanent storefront space to Helpers. This became the Helpers Bazaar. In 2017, Ghirardelli Square needed its retail space back and the store moved to its current location at 1947 Union Street in the vibrant Cow Hollow shopping neighborhood of San Francisco. There the store was reborn as the Helpers Artisan Boutique.

Harry Harrison, Executive Director for Helpers Community since 2018, launched a new vision to create a unique retail store featuring only products created, designed, or produced by individuals with developmental disabilities and organizations with a similar mission, and to establish a retail mentorship and job training program. Today the store is a job training site for individuals with developmental disabilities, providing hands-on job training in customer service, retail operations, and learning Square, a point-of-sale technology for sales transactions. We partner with the Arc San Francisco Center for Lifelong Learning and the Pomeroy Recreation & Rehabilitation Center. The store also has Meet the Artist events which give partner organizations the opportunity to meet and collaborate. In addition to the retail location, Helpers has an online shopping site which launched in late June 2020.

CRF: How do you select items to feature in your shop?

Marilyn: As buyer and merchandiser for the Helpers Artisan Boutique, I am constantly looking for new gift ideas and categories to appeal to our customers. I talk with partner organizations about their artists’ products, view their online shopping sites, and visit partner organizations’ stores. Since our homes are our sanctuary in these unprecedented times, sustainable innovative eco-friendly candles, organic soaps, handcrafted ceramic serving and tableware, paintings, custom art, handcrafted note cards, and edibles are some of the best selling categories we feature.

CRF: How has COVID-19 impacted the Boutique?

Marilyn: COVID-19 has impacted sales and traffic as the retail store was closed due to shelter-in-place from March to July, 2020. In addition, due to safety protocols needed with COVID-19, our trainer, Cristipher, has not been able to do any in-store training for clients from the Arc or the Pomeroy Center since February. Also, we have not been able to hold any collaborative partner events in the store. The online site, direct-to-consumer selling, has become a key vehicle to building awareness about Helpers Community, their partner organizations, and driving Helpers Artisan Boutique sales.

CRF: What impact can customers who shop with you have?

Marilyn: We want to ensure our customers are delighted with the products and service they receive in store and would love for them to build awareness and share with friends and family about the Helpers Community mission to support Individuals with Developmental Disabilities, the Helpers Artisan Boutique, and the online site. We would love for our store and our online site to become the “go to” shopping destination for gift buying.

A Feeling of Belonging. Unconditional Support. Being Seen and Accepted. We all strive to have these elements in our lives, and we passionately want them for our children. But when I consider a young adult like my Thomas, a handsome, wonderful young man with severe autism, I have always harbored a fear that these essential elements of life would be elusive.

Thomas is anxious, sensitive and wary. He is not able to have a conversation with words. He fixates on things like needing to wear the same shirt (or same few shirts) all the time. He wore red lobster pajamas for about 7 months and dramatically fretted each and every time he was separated from them for washing. He hates when almost any of his clothes have to be in the washer. While he’s waiting for the washer to finish he will rock on his feet and hold his fingers tightly, crushing his little pinky finger down sideways under all the other fingers in the same hand. He once pried a locked washer door open, bent the metal to get to his clothes. He can’t be without his water bottle, on which he taps, taps, taps all day and all night.

Don’t get me wrong, I don't think there is anything wrong with his attributes, but as he turned 18 and then 21 and he aged out of the school system and left his school-based community, I worried whether Thomas would find people to be his community, and I didn’t think he wanted to be alone. Then he found Common Roots Farm.

Thomas started volunteering at Common Roots Farm about four years ago, before there were crop rows or raised beds. He started at the beginning when the farm needed his strong body to move soil around. He began doing work like shoveling and pushing a wheelbarrow, and it was great. He was good at these things! He liked the predictability of the expectations and how he could do the work independently. When he got tired and wanted to gallop around (he gallops more than runs) while shouting and making shrill noises, it was OK. He was not expected to be anything but who he was. He liked that. No shaming. No sideways glances, just “Hi Thomas, happy to see you” as he whizzed by.

As the crops got situated and fences got put in, Thomas found new work. The inclusion specialist helped him learn how to cut plant debris into smaller pieces for better composting, and he focused on it for hours at a time, and was proud of his accomplishments! He has taken on watering, harvesting tomatoes, and hauling weeds. As years have gone by, he now knows the farm, he feels comfortable there. He feels wanted, and understood there.

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list