News From the Field:  Building 21st Century Farmers,

BASS Members Participate  Computer  Training Course

Earlier this month 10 members of the Benguet Association of Seed Savers (BASS)  participated in a three-day computer training course. This training was co-hosted by the  Municipality of Tubaly and the Regional Agricultural Training Institute (ATI). 

All of the participating farmers lacked experience with computers prior to this course. Throughout the three-days they learned the parts of a computer, how they work, and how to put a computer back together. They also learned how to conduct basic 

internet research and b y the end of the course they created and edited basic word

documents, learned to perform operations in Excel, and made three page PowerPoint Presentations. All of these skills will be put to good use as  BASS farmers continue to design and teach Seed School and other organic farming trainings to their peers. 

We are honored to help bridge the technology gap for our farmers and ensure they gain the skills necessary to enhance their farming and their lives as a whole!

7th Annual Nourish Event Success 

and Announcing Our New Name Global Seed Savers 

	Board of Directors with Padma and Sherry.

On Saturday, October 14th  over 

100 peopled gathered at the

Posner  Center  for  our 7th 

Annual  Nourish Event. Grossing over $23,000 to 

support our farmers, this year's Nourish was the most successful to  d ate! Our friends at the Orange Crunch Catering prepared an amazing Filipino  meal complete with Lechon! We had a fantastic silent auction and we were honored to welcome Dr. Padmapani (Padma) L. Perez to Denver as our keynote speaker for the event. 

Padma is the Global Seed Savers-Philippines NGO Board President (our counterpart in the Philippines). Padma gave a compelling talk about the state of food security in the Philippines describing a common practice by many called pag-pag when families dumpster dive and then re-heat food scraps that have been discarded. This is the reality of hunger in the Philippines and while there is a growing demand for healthy and organically produced food this is still only accessible to a small upper class minority in the Philippines. Our vision is that all people have access to healthy and sustainably produced food and seeds. This is a big tasks but like Wes Jackson the Founder of the Land Institute says and Padma shared during her compelling talk, 

" If your life's work can be accomplished in your lifetime, you're not thinking big enough." 

We also announced our new name... Global Seed Savers during the event to better

reflect our expanding work and impact as we move into our next phase as an organization. To view more pictures from Nourish thanks to Callen B. Photography please click here. 

Mark Your Calendars for #GivingTuesday on  November 28th

On Tuesday, November 28th across the world, 1,000's of people are joining together to give time, energy, and money to the causes that matter the most. #GivingTuesday is an international day of Giving and we are proud to be a participating organization. 

Mark your calendars and on November 28th visit our website and make a contribution to support global food security and smallholder farmers! 

Potential Giving Levels

$500- Seed School Sponsor

Your gift will host a Seed School for 30 new farmers in a new region.

$1000- Sustainability Leader

Your gift will host a two-day Training of Trainers Course where participating farmers will learn to teach the next technical training program to their peers. 

Mark your calendars for Tuesday, November 28th and join us in supporting global food security on #GivingTuesday!