10/08/2025
Cozy It Forward Grant Winners Announced!!
We (y'all) did it! We raised the funds through our annual Brewgrass event, enough so to keep the cozy moving forward with a pilot mini grant program and we've picked our first two recipients out of a sea of rad ideas!!
Winner #1:
Create an art piece of the James River combining painting, embroidery, and cyanotype
The community side: I want to lead a cyanotype workshop (kid-friendly, but open to all ages) at the beginning of a cleanup. I'll show everyone how to use nature (plants, flowers, leaves, rocks) to make cyanotypes (sun prints). We'll develop them on site and leave them to dry during the trash cleanup. After the cleanup, people can take home their masterpieces, or leave them with me and I'll incorporate them into my painting!
At the end of all of this, I'd like to either donate the painting to JRPS if they want it, or sell it and donate the money to KVC or a parks-related group.
Winner #2:
EarthLab equips folks with the naturalist skills needed to make those authentic connections possible through school and homeschool-based programs for middle and high school students, free and low cost public outings for adults, collaborations with other orgs, and professional learning for teachers. All our programs are in-person and in the field.
We'd love to purchase 15 hand loupes that can help our participants get up close and personal with natural phenomena during our programs. This is a simple idea, but we believe it's a powerful one. These loupes will be used again and again to slow down, observe, and cultivate a sense of wonder and curiosity about things like bark and leaves when learning to ID trees, gills and pores when exploring fungi and lichen, and the details of plants and insect behavior when nature journaling, just to name a few. As a young organization, building up our stash of field equipment will enable us to create space for even more transformative experiences.
We hope these funds help fuel creativity, foster a sense of learning and wonder, and help more folks feel connected & cozy in this wonderful place we get to call home!
We don't need tools to make change...just good humans & rad vibes!
