Architecture for Humanity and the Abundance Project

Boise has a local Architecture for Humanity chapter and would love to get more people involved in the group. It is a fairly new group with a couple projects under its belt. If you've been by the Boise Bicycle Project, you would have seen a project that the AFH chapter and BBP teamed up on re-utilizing some of BBP's old bikes to create a new bike rack.



Currently, AFH is partnering with the Abundance Project and Kim Metez. The Abundance Project takes the extra food from your garden and partners with local farmers to provide food for the local refugee population. AFH is in the process of putting together designs for the bins that will be used at the drop off locations. The design incorporates the old blue recycle bins as drawers and will be incorporated into a wood structure from re-salvaged/donated materials. The next steps to come will be a painting party to put the Abundance Project's logo on the bins and prototype building. These prototypes will then be tested to determine a final design.

To get involved, check out the Boise AFH site: http://afhboise.ning.com/

To learn more about the Abundance Project, here's an article from The Boise Weekly:

Grow a Lot, Share a Little
Posted by Jennifer Hernandez on Fri, Apr 2, 2010 at 10:36 AM

What started out as a book club assignment has turned into a mission to help feed local refugee families with the bounty that grows in Boise backyards.

After reading What is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng by Dave Eggers, Boise real estate agent Kim Metez was inspired. Working to form a community project with other agents in her real estate office, she started asking for donations from people’s gardens that she could pass along to the International Rescue Committee, where for the last two years she has volunteered by helping a Burmese family adapt to their new life.

From the first boxes full of food that arrived on her doorstep in July 2009, donations steadily grew. The freshly grown produce was taken to the IRC office, where it was distributed to refugees as they came in for help with learning English, finding work, scheduling doctor appointments, reading bus maps and trying to function in an United States city.

As the 2010 growing season approaches, Metez is gearing up for another summer of sharing. In addition to donations of fresh fruits and vegetables from citizen gardens, she is looking for volunteers who can help with grant writing as well as master gardeners and master composters.

For more information visit the Abundance Project’s Facebook page. You can also call Kim at 208-871-9059, or email her at kimmetez@gmail.com.

Last summer, one donor was so enthusiastic about the project that he created a video to help promote it.

Abundance Project from Craig Clark Studio on Vimeo.