Re-live Silver Trowel 2016!

Thanks to all our supporters for a hugely successful 9th annual Silver Trowel Celebration for Slide Ranch. Together we raised over $500K to bring kids from underserved communities to Slide!

We are all about bringing the best things in life together: great people, great music, great food and wine and doing good at the same time!

Start your week the right way by briefly re-living the moment:

Silver Trowel Event Recap Video with Michael Franti

Photos from Silver Trowel Celebration

Special thanks to our Honorary Hosts Jillian Manus and Robert Chesnut, Silver Trowel Award recipient and rocker JC Curleigh and a star in so many ways, Michael Franti!

If you weren't able to join us this time around, please learn more about how you can support Slide Ranch today.

Join in the celebration with the supporters of Slide Ranch at Silver Trowel

October 6th is the date! Buy tickets today to attend our annual fund raising party, The Silver Trowel. Amazing music, delicious food, and lots of fun will be had for a great cause!

On Thursday October 6, Slide Ranch is transforming the hottest new event space in San Francisco, The Pearl, into a rock and roll rooftop bar, farm-to-table picnic, and concert stage to celebrate our 2016 Silver Trowel honoree, James “JC” Curleigh. JC, who is President at Levi’s, shares our commitment to harnessing the power of nature without destroying it. He is a member of the team that is leading the pioneering efforts at Levi Strauss to reduce the use of natural resources and decrease the environmental footprint of the apparel industry.

The event will also feature a performance by a special guest musical superstar.

Dinner will be an interactive experience catered by Estate Events by Meadowood of Napa Valley, home of one of the finest restaurants in California.

All proceeds from the event will benefit our Planting Kids in Nature programs that provide day and overnight field trips to Slide Ranch to 10,000 children, youth and families each year.

Tickets are $501 per person and sponsorships begin at $5,000. Click here to purchase your tickets today!

Have Fun and a Drink for Slide Ranch!

Iron Horse has created a special Slide Ranch Chardonnay only available at ifOnly.com and at A16 restaurants in San Francisco and Rockridge.  Individual bottles as well as cases can be purchased at IfOnly.com, and A16 is offering the wine by the glass and bottle.  It's a great opportunity to purchase some amazing local Chardonnay while supporting our ranch.  

Slide Ranch Receives a Special Grant from the North Face 2016 Explore Fund

 

Slide Ranch is increasing access to National Parks for fourth graders in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Muir Beach, California – June 28, 2016 – Slide Ranch is one of the 45 non-profit organizations selected to receive a special grant from the North Face Explore Fund in observance of the centennial celebration of the National Park Service. Slide Ranch will use this generous donation to provide immersive outdoor nature experiences to fourth grade students. This project, which is part of the National Park Services’ Every Kid in a Park initiative, will provide fourth graders with the opportunity to camp, hike, and discover the outdoors on federal public lands within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) of the National Park Service. Thanks to this grant, Slide Ranch will be able to double the number of fourth graders it reaches through this program over the next year.

“Slide Ranch is dedicated to connecting kids to nature; so we are a big supporter of the goal of the Every Kind in a Park initiative,” says Marika Bergsund, Slide Ranch's Executive Director. “We’re pleased and excited to be able to use The North Face’s grant to play a larger role in this admirable effort to get more fourth graders out into nature.”

Slide Ranch plays a vital role immersing Bay Area children in nature.  Children’s outdoor playtime is at a historic low, despite the demonstrated importance of outside time for proper development.  Studies show that kids with more exposure to nature develop resilience, perform better in school, experience improved mental as well as physical health, and become better stewards of the earth. Slide Ranch plants 10,000 kids and families in nature every year, 70% of which are on scholarship. We partner also with more than 100 organizations in the Bay Area to deliver immersive nature experiences on 134 acres of California at its finest within the GGNRA.

“Encouraging people to experience and enjoy the outdoors has been our mission at The North Face since we were founded 50 years ago,” said Ann Krcik, senior director of Outdoor Exploration at The North Face. “We are proud to support these outstanding programs that expose participants to the beauty and joy of the outdoors. Through these Explore Fund grants, we are building a community of outdoor explorers and inspiring people to love and protect the places where we play.”

As part of its mission to start a global movement of outdoor exploration, The North Face introduced Explore Fund (www.explorefund.org) in 2010 and the program has since provided more than $2.2 million in grants to organizations committed to inspiring people to explore the outdoors and care for the environment.

About Slide Ranch

Slide Ranch was made possible by “rebels with a cause” who saved the land from development, plans called for a hotel and an amusement park, by purchasing it and donating it to the National Park Service for the enjoyment of the people of California and the nation. Since 1970 Slide Ranch has been stewarding this special land and operating a coastal teaching farm that welcomes children, youth and families from all walks of life.

To learn more about Slide Ranch visit www.slideranch.org.

About The North Face®

The North Face, a division of VF Outdoor, Inc., was founded in 1966. Headquartered in Alameda, California, the company offers the most technically advanced products in the market to accomplished climbers, mountaineers, snowsport athletes, endurance athletes, and explorers. The company's products are sold in specialty mountaineering, backpacking, running, and snowsport retailers, premium-sporting goods retailers and major outdoor specialty retail chains.

Media contact:

Sarah Imber Safdar
On behalf of Slide Ranch
415-692-1392

Caren Bell               
On behalf of The North Face
510.748.2742
Caren_Bell@vfc.com

From the Army to Farming - Angela's Story

We recently said thank you, goodbye and good luck to Angela Leyba, a military veteran, who graduated from our first Farming Internship with San Francisco Foundation and Farmer Veteran Coalition. Angela's family and friends joined the Slide Ranch team and staff from San Francisco Foundation and the Farmer Veteran Coalition for the graduation celebration, where we looked back at Angela's time here and presented her graduation certificate.

Angela, a former U.S. Army Apache helicopter mechanic, has done tours of duty in Korea, Bosnia and Afghanistan. After the Army, she attended culinary school. Last August she became a farming intern here at Slide Ranch through our partnership with the San Francisco Foundation and the Farmer Veteran Coalition, a national organization with the mission to mobilize veterans to feed America.

Nicknamed “the chicken whisperer" Angela, was an amazing fit here at Slide Ranch right from the start. From learning how to care for our animals and manage farm chores, to learning about sustainable farming practices and participating in a full farm season from seed to table, Angela has left Slide Ranch with a wealth of knowledge and practical experience that she can apply to her next role. And she also spent time teaching us – training our staff in basic tractor and farm vehicle maintenance.

Emily Cohen, Program Director at Slide Ranch, opened the graduation ceremony: "We are proud and honored to take this opportunity to celebrate Angela’s time at the ranch." Emily went on to say: "What you might not know is that in spite of our familiarity with this format, Angela honestly blew us out of the water from day one. She brought an amazing work ethic to the team, showed strong leadership and a had a wonderful sense of humor throughout." 

Francesca Veitor, Program Director for the Environment, Public Policy and Civic Engagement at the San Francisco Foundation also attended the ceremony. Francesca was a long-time board member and supporter of Slide Ranch, and was a key player in making this special and important collaboration happen. Also in attendance was Michael O’Gorman, Executive Director and founder of the Farmer Veteran Coalition, and Jeff Macloud, 25 year US Air Force veteran and COO of Farmer Veteran Coalition. Michael shared his amazing story about starting the organization out of the back of his truck after being involved with very large scale farming, and Jeff kindly photographed the event. Thank you all!

So what's next for Angela? Well, Angela was recently interviewed for an article in Edible Marin & Wine Country and told the magazine, “When I got to Slide Ranch, I thought, ‘Where have you been all my life?’”. She now wants to help other vets have the same experience and also hopes to open a farm-to-table restaurant. Read the article here.

Many of you know that Slide Ranch is a nonprofit educational farm that connects kids with nature and teaches them about sustainable eating and living. But, many people don't know that Slide Ranch was an early leader in the food sustainability movement and our mission was built around a concept of training new farmers and teachers about sustainable farming, education and environmental stewardship. We were founded in the same year as Earth Day, and have been training the trainers since 1970! We hope Angela is the first of many military veterans to experience and benefit from this collaborative Farming Internship Program.

Congratulations, thank you and good luck Angela.

Photos by Jeff Macloud, Farmer Veteran Coalition.