Amazon Founder, Jeff Bezos Makes Donation to Grow Some Good

Grow Some Good, a Maui-based nonprofit known for creating garden-based education experiences that connect children to their food, environment, and culture, announced that they received a donation from Amazon Founder and Executive Chair, Jeff Bezos.

Grow Some Good will use the funds to increase the impact of their Farm to School Program and further develop their Community Food Systems Program. Together, these programs help build food independence in Maui County by providing children and their families the tools needed to envision and create a food future that is less reliant on imported food. In addition, Grow Some Good intends to initiate an annual scholarship program for students planning to pursue careers in agriculture, environmental conservation, and sustainability.

“All of us at Grow Some Good are tremendously grateful for Mr. Bezos’s generous contribution to our organization,” said Scott Lacasse, Grow Some Good’s Executive Director. “His support for Grow Some Good and its goal of growing Maui County’s next generation of farmers, chefs, policymakers, and scientists will help us further engage students in garden and nutrition education throughout their formative years. In addition, this donation creates a real opportunity to improve Maui’s food system by increasing the awareness of and demand for sustainable food production that further enriches the community’s political, environmental, social, economic, and health systems.”

Grow Some Good is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization formed in 2008 that supports a healthy community by strengthening local agriculture and improving access to nutritious, affordable food. “We envision our island community fully supported by a thriving, local, and sustainable food system that is less reliant on imported food,” according to the organization.

Monetary donations of unspecified amounts were also gifted by Jeff Bezos to Habitat for Humanity Maui, Ka Hale A Ke Ola Homeless Resource Centers, Mālama Family Recovery Center, the Hawaiʻi Land Trust, the Friends of the Children’s Justice Center and The Maui Farm.