The GreenHouse offers after-school tutoring programs, summer camp opportunities, a youth group for teens, affordable sports participation, and skill-building workshops and serves a neighborhood of more than 550 children living in one square block – the most kids per capita than any other block in the greater Sacramento area.
“We’ve got to go sometimes and provide the boots so people can pull themselves up by their bootstraps.”
“I personally want to thank all the volunteers who are giving back to their community and providing their local youth with constructive alternatives,” said Schwarzenegger. “Greenhouse proves that California’s most precious resource is the compassion and generosity of its people.” Click here to listen to a video of the governor’s visit.
“Many times we talk about that we have to help people, but people should pull themselves up by their bootstraps,” Schwarzenegger added. “But you know, the reality of it is that we’ve got to go sometimes and provide the boots so people can pull themselves up by their bootstraps. And sometimes we have to go and bend all the way down to the floor to pick up those boots so that people can pull themselves up by their bootstraps.”
Neighborhood transformation: “From one that is merely surviving to one that is thriving.”
Volunteers will deliver the baskets to 60 families today.
Executive Director Kacie Stratton, a member of Sanctuary Covenant Church, started the GreenHouse in 2002. She was inspired to begin the work after reading a 2001 Sacramento Bee story about the neighborhood that described the need for positive role models in the struggling and diverse community.
“The GreenHouse was formed with the vision of helping unlock the resources to transform this neighborhood from one that is merely surviving to one that is thriving,” says Stratton.
Stratton, received the “Programs for Children” award during the 2007 Martin Luther King, Jr. Gospel Celebration, a citywide gathering of churches and community leaders centered around the theme, “We Are Better Together.”
