Scottsdale resident creates grassroots organizations

It seems as if every day brings more bad news.

The economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, rising homelessness and world instability.

Often overlooked are the individuals, groups and organizations that are making a positive change in our world, with their countless hours of volunteer work.

In 1995 Anne Goldfeld and her husband Phil were living in Connecticut, she with a background in social work, he with a background in nutrition and fitness.

The organization lay dormant for several years while Goldfeld started a family, she has five children, the three oldest, Sammi, 13, Jacob,11, and Mikal,10 are already active in volunteerism. During this time Goldfeld also relocated to Arizona.

Since then, three more organizations were formed under the Resources For Health umbrella.

After learning about Roots and Shoots, a youth service learning organization founded by Jane Goodall, Goldfeld decided to create her own local chapter in 2003.

Next came Pollution Solutions, started in 2005, an organization to teach kids about reusing. "We had been shopping with reusable bags for about 10 years when the kids sat down with the calculator and figured we save 800 disposable bags per year by reusing our own cloth bags." Goldfeld says. "Then they said, Imagine if everyone used reusable bags! And so it was born."

Her daughter Sammi received a State Farm Good Neighbor grant, and with the money she purchased cotton grocery bags.

Goldfeld and her daughter go to local elementary schools where they give a power point presentation on the life cycle of paper and plastic bags. After concluding that neither is a good idea for the environment, the students are given their own cotton bags, which they then decorate.

In 2008, Goldfeld, along with about 15 others created the latest group, AZ Home Grown Solutions, a grassroots movement dedicated to connecting, sharing and spreading local sustainable practices.

With the motto of "having fun growing food and communities", a core group of 20-25 volunteers come together to teach people to grow their own food, establish gardens, and do various community service projects, such as citrus harvesting.

"I can hardly believe how far we have come," says Goldfeld, "Take AZ Home Grown Solutions for example. In less than four months from the conception of the program, we have engaged over 75 volunteers to glean and distribute several thousand pounds of citrus to the homeless and needy and hosted nine gardening and sustainable living classes, plus site analyses, movies and sustainable showcase home tours."

With a goal of helping people reestablish themselves in their neighborhoods, on Global Youth Service Day, which was April 25, AZ Home Grown Solutions partnered with the regional Roots and Shoots office to plant 100 native mesquite trees in an inner city Phoenix neighborhood.

Resources For Health, Roots and Shoots, and Pollution Solutions have all received awards for their various service projects.

Imparting her ideals to her children, Goldfeld says,"It's a big part of our home schooling. Learning to grow food and help others is just as important as the three R's."

Her daughter Sammi helps teach some of the classes for Pollution Solutions, as well as working on her own projects, such as a project to send much needed school supplies to underfunded schools in Africa. "We're doing a crayons project," she says, "We melt down used crayons in milk cartons in solar ovens, then send them to schools in Africa."

Goldfeld's son Mikal is the youth ambassador for the Phoenix Weedwackers. He volunteers with the group to remove buffel grass, an invasive weed from local parks and desert areas. On his eighth birthday he invited his friends to Papago Park to celebrate his birthday and to remove buffel grass.

Son Jacob started a bear hug project, assembling non-alergenic stuffed bears and donating them to the Phoenix Children's Hospital.

Goldfeld's future plans include expanding Arizona Home Grown Solutions, to assist anyone who wants to grow their own food and to increase access to sustainable technologies.

"The people are leading so that hopefully our leaders will follow," says Goldfeld.

For more information on any of the groups go to www.resourcesforhealth.org.