View of Heaven Farm

Goal: $40,000.00

Specific Need

View of Heaven Farm, in Loudoun County, provides year-round employment with a living wage to the local neurodiverse and physically disabled population.  All donations that we receive through Give Choose ’24 will be used specifically to pay our neurodiverse and physically disabled staff.  Year-round employment with a living wage is what makes our farm so important, and this is our primary goal.  

In 2023 your Give Choose donations made a big difference!  We grew to twenty two employees, and we also worked with a variety of Loudoun partners to operate our farm.  Our team’s hard work produced 3,480 pounds of sustainably grown produce and we donated 1,145 pounds of food and produce to Loudoun County food banks. 

Our team was proud of their hard work this past year and are looking forward to 2024.  The ability to work at a meaningful job means they don't get stuck on a couch at home, but instead are out working hard, with hands in soil or dough, growing and creating.  They are contributing to society through the production of pesticide free produce and baked goods that do not contain shortening, cake mixes nor artificial food colors.  We can see the positive impact these jobs have had on our employees' self esteem and confidence levels. And their jobs contribute to a more physically and mentally healthy individual.  We thank you in advance for your help to keep these individuals gainfully employed in 2024!

Mission

View of Heaven Farm’s mission is to provide meaningful employment to people of all mental and physical abilities, while paying a living wage, and growing food using environmentally sustainable processes.  This is our “View of Heaven”! 

Profile

Who are we, you ask?  View of Heaven Farm is a 501(c)(3) non-profit farm in western Loudoun County that provides year-round skills training and employment for developmentally challenged employees. Our neurodiverse and disabled staff members learn and perform all the functions of farming throughout the year, with job coaches to supervise, assist and mentor them. 

Background.  The Conaway family, founders of View of Heaven Farm, started small with the farm in late 2020 and had 1,200 sf of raised beds in production in 2021.  In 2022, they quadrupled the size of the farm, adding 3,400 sf of raised beds, and built a state-of-the-art food processing facility. In 2023, through generous grants, the farm added a high tunnel and greenhouse that includes two hydroponic systems.  View of Heaven Farm has grown substantially in the past three years.  Partnering with ECHO, Makom Life’s MOST program and the Loudoun County Public Schools’ CAST program, we will continue to expand our support of the neurodiverse community in Loudoun County. 

Our Program.  We pursue our goal of meaningful year-round employment by planting and harvesting seasonal produce all year long.  We operate our own farm market every Saturday in season and offer pre ordering / pickup locations during the winter.  We offer greens year round, seasonal produce (including strawberries, raspberries, cherry tomatoes, Swiss chard, kale, potatoes, garlic, onions, carrots, peppers, sweet potatoes, herbs, flower bouquets and other popular items), baked goods and a select and limited assortment of local craft items made by our staff to supplement our produce items. 

Future Plans.  This year will be focused on fully operationalizing our current infrastructure laying a strong programmatic foundation for future expansion.  This will include the continued development and training of our current staff to expand their roles and capabilities. 

So, where do we go from here? Through the generosity of supporters like you, we look forward to continuing our year-round employment opportunities for our neurodiverse employees and their job coaches.   We need your help to hire, train and retain our wonderful neurodiverse and disabled staff.

Please take a look at our website https://viewofheavenfarm.org to learn more about our backstory and how we accomplish our mission throughout the year.  Please donate!  Your contribution during the GiveChoose campaign will help us continue serving those in need in our local community.  Thank you!

Each person has their gifts and we need to help them find those gifts.  And as we do, they help us find ours.

$22,387.77 received
in 39 gifts 55.97%  of  $40,000.00 Goal