IF Kids

Late post: Congrats to Big Big Table Community Café, PATH Inc. (People Against Trafficking Humans) and Hope Totes Buffalo for winning/ placing at Pitch10 last week!! Alongside with BOLDER Inc. , Be Your Own Hero, Inc. , Fostering Greatness Inc. , Good Neighbor Fund , Seneca Street Community Development Corp. and Shai Arnold (aka for grieving daughters). It was such an amazing and exciting experience that taught us so much. We made great connections, given some prize money and will be a part of United Way's Executive Edge program. So in short, WE ALL WON! We are looking forward to all of the amazing work this cohort will accomplish. -- Thank you so much United Way of Buffalo & Erie County and the whole Next Generation United crew including our pitch coach Margaret Zimmer, MBA for this amazing opportunity! Thanks Seneca One for hosting. Thanks to Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation , Empower Federal Credit Union , Rich Products Corporation , Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York, National Fuel Gas Company , Wehle Business School at Canisius University and BankOnBuffalo for your sponsorships.

Had an amazing, fulfilling and enlightening experience, a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to the Cradle Beach Inc. Crew (Ann-Marie Orlowski, Karli Metros, and Gabriele Clark) for giving me a tour of your beautiful campground and making it possible for IF Kids to teach their young campers about the inner workings of hydroponic systems and the possibilities of STEM careers in agriculture. Absolutely loved thier treehouse as well! Thanks to John Kappel from Innosek / Epic Promotionals for the 3D printing. Thanks to Sashti Balasundaram, MPH from Firsthand Learning, Inc for the journals. Photo credit: Karli #ifkidsorg #cradlebeach #STEM #hydroponics #youth #agriculture #agtech #early #workforcedevelopment

We are honored to have been chosen again this year as a finalist at Pitch10 alongside BOLDER Inc. , Be Your Own Hero, Inc. , Fostering Greatness Inc. , Hope Totes Buffalo , Good Neighbor Fund , PATH Inc. (People Against Trafficking Humans) , Seneca Street Community Development Corp. and Big Big Table Community Café Our mission is to teach children about Indoor Agriculture through STEM. Essentially acting as early workforce development for agtech. Please help support us either by donations, social media engagement or volunteering. We will announce when tickets are available closer to the event which takes place on September 25th, but just wanted to share this proud moment of ours. Thank you so much United Way of Buffalo & Erie County and the Next Generation United crew for this amazing opportunity! Thanks Seneca One for hosting. Thanks to Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation , Empower Federal Credit Union , Rich Products Corporation , Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York , National Fuel Gas Company , Canisius University -- Wehle School of Business and BankOnBuffalo for your sponsorships.

This week was a momentous and fulfilling one! We kicked of our pilot after school workshop. “Project: See through hydroponic system” In partnership with Buffalo Creek Academy Charter School ,Home Beneath Our Feet, Inc and Firsthand Learning, Inc, Elias Martinez had the students learn about 1) hydroponic systems 2) the components needed for building them 3) measurements 4) critical thinking 5) imagination 6) hands on building of the system Thank you Dwight Lowe and Sashti Balasundaram, MPH for helping make this happen