WHERE THERE’S A WILL, THERE’S A SUSTAINING WAY
On behalf of SAVER, we will be sharing a series of articles this year highlighting the work we are doing and wanted to start by sharing an update on Annie’s House (AH). For those that might be newer to FBG, Annie’s House and Sustaining Way (the nonprofit created to run AH) were born out of the work that I did after we founded the SAVER (Sustaining 
And Valuing Earth’s Resources) Committee at FBG in 2007. Whether it is through our Coordinator Program, our Apprentice Program or our Steward Youth Program, our work is designed to educate, empower and develop individuals in ways that promote responsibility, creative thinking, self-sufficiency, employability, and self-confidence.
Our Steward Youth Program is transformative in nature. Each activity, lesson plan, and experience we provide is a seed that is planted in the hearts and minds of these youth helping them to grow into more productive, healthy and sustainable adults. Thanks to support from FBG and other partners, last year we engaged more than 500 youth for over 700 hours of education. We hosted 16 paid Steward Fellows resulting in 658 hours of workforce development, sustainability education and hands-on service learning. Select youth are also invited to participate in our Steward Leaders Program where they are paid to receive in-depth training and develop leadership skills through leading initiatives in the community. Steward Fellows graduate and now Steward Leader, Mari Jones says, “Working at Annie’s House has been the best experience I’ve had. I learned a lot about living sustainably. Now that I’ve had this experience I feel it changed the way I see things. Thank you all for letting me have this experience.”
In 2019, we are organizing two new initiatives in the Nicholtown community that will be focused on increasing the amount of healthy food produced in Nicholtown and improving household energy efficiency. For more, here is our latest newsletter (https://mailchi.mp/45a35f1d1ea3/in-case-you-missed-it), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/sustainingway), website (http://www.sustainingway.org/) and engagement signup (https://goo.gl/forms/ptRlAcU9Po84BLC23).
— Rick Joye, Co-Chair SAVER Committee