Putting on the Red Cape in Rural America
Tax deductible
Image: Sinclaire Ogof reading her winning essay in 2020
Help Sinclaire and other students like her, put on their red capes and save the world. Give today to The Burkhardt Memorial Scholarship.
Every year, SEEDS of Northeastern Pennsylvania grants The Burkhardt Memorial Scholarship for the best sustainability essay to a local student from our small, rural Pennsylvania community. The topic for the essay often involves real local environmental issues that need attention, and asks students to propose a sustainable solution that would create solidarity and foster love for their small town among all community members.
This scholarship is now in jeopardy.
This scholarship is made to honor the memory of Michael “Jake” Burkhardt, Western Wayne Class of 2015. Jake worked with SEEDS as a high school student. He was attending Keystone College majoring in wildlife biology when he was a passenger in a fatal car accident. He was a fun, kind, and generous person with an amazing smile. He loved hiking, campfires, being outdoors, his brother, Ben, and his two beagles.
Image: Jake in his habitat. Courtesy of Carol Burkhardt
The scholarship was started with generous donations from the Burkhardt family and friends, but we need your help to keep it, and Jake’s legacy, going.
Our community needs this scholarship!
43% of students in the Wayne and Pike County school districts, where this scholarship is offered, qualify for a free lunch and come from homes where basic living necessities trump environmental issues.
The Burkhardt Memorial Scholarship provides real hope to low-income, rural high school students that they can make a difference in their community, that their ideas matter, and that taking care of the ecological systems around them shows love for their town and is an investment into their future.
Image: 2019 scholarship winner—Phoebe Cykosky
This scholarship is about making small-town progress possible.
Don’t think of this as charity but rather as an investment in rural America. The essay questions focus on real problems in our community that make students think and be creative in proposing solutions with limited, small-town resources.
You can be an environmental hero too (no red cape needed). Simply give today.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
SEEDS of Northeastern Pennsylvania is a small, rural nonprofit organization, located just two hours outside of NYC. We work primarily in the northeast part of the state, which is an on and off again vacation destination throughout the seasons.
Image: Our DIY Solar workshop
SEEDS is focused on activating our community residents and visitors alike to fight the most pressing ecological issue of the day—climate change. We do this through energy conservation programs focusing on energy efficiency and renewables, educating our businesses and residents on sustainable practices through digital storytelling, community events and webinars, and we work with local farmers to spread the love of local, sustainable agriculture through our local radio program "Today's Main Ingredient" and through virtual farm tours.
Image: Farmer Tammy taking us on a tour of her sustainable farm in Wayne County. You can find the full tour on our YouTube channel: SEEDSofNEPA
Before the pandemic , our residential energy conservation program called The Energy Awareness Action Movement, or TEAAM, performed free home energy assessments in Wayne and Pike Counties. Designed to make residential energy conservation convenient and easy, TEAAM provides local high school students with great jobs and local residents with free energy assessments and recommendations for saving energy and money in their own homes. Over 150 homes have benefited from the savings!
Image: TEAAM learning about energy efficiency.
SEEDS continues to serve a special segment of our local population through its ongoing Habitat for Humanity projects. Since energy efficiency is even more critical to the most vulnerable people in our communities, SEEDS has been long committed to working with the Wayne County Habitat for Humanity organization, helping the organization install its first solar system on a Habitat home in Pennsylvania! SEEDS also collaborated with PPL’s WRAP program to help Habitat Families and low income families achieve even greater energy efficiency.
Image: Our first Habitat for Humanity project and family.
Our latest collaboration will be the construction of the first Passive Habitat House in the state of Pennsylvania. Although the pandemic halted much of the work, we hope to be able to resume this historical project in the summer of 2021, working in concert with Richard Pedranti, an award winning, and nationally acclaimed, high-efficiency architect who is creating the design for consideration of the Habitat board. This will be the first passive Habitat house in the state of Pennsylvania, it will be the only known passive house in Honesdale, PA. SEEDS will be providing education and press on the passive house building standard, and this collaborative project throughout the process.
To create a market for local renewable energy infrastructure, SEEDS regularly organizes hands-on training workshops on solar photovoltaics, solar thermal, and small-scale wind. These trainings provided more than 60 local contractors, residents and business professionals with hands-on installation experience and top of the line training in renewable energy. Several of these trainees have earned Pennsylvania Sunshine certification. Two have achieved certification from the North American Board of Certified Energy Providers, and now own successful solar installation companies.
SEEDS regularly holds public forums to make our community more informed on environmental matters and resilient environmentally, socially and economically. Forum topics include:
Water Use, Conservation & Power
Do-It-Yourself Solar
Small Scale Wind Power
Forest Fuels & Biomass
Energy Auditing for Home & Farm
Insulation
Solar Photovoltaic & Solar Thermal
Geothermal Heating & Cooling
PPL’s Smart Metering Program
Do-it-Yourself Energy Efficiency
New Green School Construction in Hamlin, PA
Tax Incentives & Rebates for Alternative Energy
Lighting Efficiency for Your Business
Growing & Preserving Food Supplies
Green Building
Straw Bale Building
Electric Vehicle Conversion
Free Book Swap
SEEDS Reads
Our new SEEDS Reads program organized the installation of a Little Free Library in front of The Cooperage, stocked it with nature-themed books, and started nature-focused virtual book readings that are available on our YouTube channel. SEEDS will continue this effort by installing two more libraries in 2021 that are designed by a local artist and our Board Chair, Katharine Dodge.
Our new 15-minute radio program called Today's Main Ingredient that just had its first episode in May 2021 on Bold Gold Media radio stations, follows a unique ingredient each week, from a local farm to a local chef, strengthening the NEPA's "Shop Local" movement.
Your gift is crucial to SEEDS. Our lean but mighty organization achieves its mission on a very conservative budget. We hope all this inspires you to provide the financial support needed to keep The Burkhardt Memorial Scholarship alive.
Thank you.
Help Sinclaire and other students like her, put on their red capes and save the world. Give today to The Burkhardt Memorial Scholarship.
Every year, SEEDS of Northeastern Pennsylvania grants The Burkhardt Memorial Scholarship for the best sustainability essay to a local student from our small, rural Pennsylvania community. The topic for the essay often involves real local environmental issues that need attention, and asks students to propose a sustainable solution that would create solidarity and foster love for their small town among all community members.
This scholarship is now in jeopardy.
This scholarship is made to honor the memory of Michael “Jake” Burkhardt, Western Wayne Class of 2015. Jake worked with SEEDS as a high school student. He was attending Keystone College majoring in wildlife biology when he was a passenger in a fatal car accident. He was a fun, kind, and generous person with an amazing smile. He loved hiking, campfires, being outdoors, his brother, Ben, and his two beagles.
Image: Jake in his habitat. Courtesy of Carol BurkhardtThe scholarship was started with generous donations from the Burkhardt family and friends, but we need your help to keep it, and Jake’s legacy, going.
Our community needs this scholarship!
43% of students in the Wayne and Pike County school districts, where this scholarship is offered, qualify for a free lunch and come from homes where basic living necessities trump environmental issues.
The Burkhardt Memorial Scholarship provides real hope to low-income, rural high school students that they can make a difference in their community, that their ideas matter, and that taking care of the ecological systems around them shows love for their town and is an investment into their future.
Image: 2019 scholarship winner—Phoebe CykoskyThis scholarship is about making small-town progress possible.
Don’t think of this as charity but rather as an investment in rural America. The essay questions focus on real problems in our community that make students think and be creative in proposing solutions with limited, small-town resources.
You can be an environmental hero too (no red cape needed). Simply give today.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
SEEDS of Northeastern Pennsylvania is a small, rural nonprofit organization, located just two hours outside of NYC. We work primarily in the northeast part of the state, which is an on and off again vacation destination throughout the seasons.
Image: Our DIY Solar workshopSEEDS is focused on activating our community residents and visitors alike to fight the most pressing ecological issue of the day—climate change. We do this through energy conservation programs focusing on energy efficiency and renewables, educating our businesses and residents on sustainable practices through digital storytelling, community events and webinars, and we work with local farmers to spread the love of local, sustainable agriculture through our local radio program "Today's Main Ingredient" and through virtual farm tours.
Image: Farmer Tammy taking us on a tour of her sustainable farm in Wayne County. You can find the full tour on our YouTube channel: SEEDSofNEPABefore the pandemic , our residential energy conservation program called The Energy Awareness Action Movement, or TEAAM, performed free home energy assessments in Wayne and Pike Counties. Designed to make residential energy conservation convenient and easy, TEAAM provides local high school students with great jobs and local residents with free energy assessments and recommendations for saving energy and money in their own homes. Over 150 homes have benefited from the savings!
Image: TEAAM learning about energy efficiency.SEEDS continues to serve a special segment of our local population through its ongoing Habitat for Humanity projects. Since energy efficiency is even more critical to the most vulnerable people in our communities, SEEDS has been long committed to working with the Wayne County Habitat for Humanity organization, helping the organization install its first solar system on a Habitat home in Pennsylvania! SEEDS also collaborated with PPL’s WRAP program to help Habitat Families and low income families achieve even greater energy efficiency.
Image: Our first Habitat for Humanity project and family.Our latest collaboration will be the construction of the first Passive Habitat House in the state of Pennsylvania. Although the pandemic halted much of the work, we hope to be able to resume this historical project in the summer of 2021, working in concert with Richard Pedranti, an award winning, and nationally acclaimed, high-efficiency architect who is creating the design for consideration of the Habitat board. This will be the first passive Habitat house in the state of Pennsylvania, it will be the only known passive house in Honesdale, PA. SEEDS will be providing education and press on the passive house building standard, and this collaborative project throughout the process.
To create a market for local renewable energy infrastructure, SEEDS regularly organizes hands-on training workshops on solar photovoltaics, solar thermal, and small-scale wind. These trainings provided more than 60 local contractors, residents and business professionals with hands-on installation experience and top of the line training in renewable energy. Several of these trainees have earned Pennsylvania Sunshine certification. Two have achieved certification from the North American Board of Certified Energy Providers, and now own successful solar installation companies.
SEEDS regularly holds public forums to make our community more informed on environmental matters and resilient environmentally, socially and economically. Forum topics include:
Water Use, Conservation & Power
Do-It-Yourself Solar
Small Scale Wind Power
Forest Fuels & Biomass
Energy Auditing for Home & Farm
Insulation
Solar Photovoltaic & Solar Thermal
Geothermal Heating & Cooling
PPL’s Smart Metering Program
Do-it-Yourself Energy Efficiency
New Green School Construction in Hamlin, PA
Tax Incentives & Rebates for Alternative Energy
Lighting Efficiency for Your Business
Growing & Preserving Food Supplies
Green Building
Straw Bale Building
Electric Vehicle Conversion
Free Book Swap
SEEDS Reads
Our new SEEDS Reads program organized the installation of a Little Free Library in front of The Cooperage, stocked it with nature-themed books, and started nature-focused virtual book readings that are available on our YouTube channel. SEEDS will continue this effort by installing two more libraries in 2021 that are designed by a local artist and our Board Chair, Katharine Dodge.
Our new 15-minute radio program called Today's Main Ingredient that just had its first episode in May 2021 on Bold Gold Media radio stations, follows a unique ingredient each week, from a local farm to a local chef, strengthening the NEPA's "Shop Local" movement.
Your gift is crucial to SEEDS. Our lean but mighty organization achieves its mission on a very conservative budget. We hope all this inspires you to provide the financial support needed to keep The Burkhardt Memorial Scholarship alive.
Thank you.
Organizer
Olga Trushina
Organizer
Honesdale, PA
SEEDS of Northeastern Pennsylvania
Beneficiary