July 21, 2022

Sunflower sale to support Ukraine

Lafayette College’s Office of Sustainability is selling sunflowers grown at the campus farm to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

In May, Josh Parr, manager of food and farm at Lafayette, invited members of the Lehigh Valley community to come together to plant sunflower seeds at LaFarm as both a symbolic gesture and supportive action to aid those impacted by the invasion of Ukraine. Sunflowers, the national flower of Ukraine, have become a symbol of peace and resilience.

Father Oleg Kravchenko from Assumption of the Virgin Mary Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Northampton and Father Richard Jendras of Saint Mary’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Allentown and other community members participated in the event, planting seeds donated by Jamie Mattikow ’86, CEO and president of Burpee Gardening. 

Parr, along with LaFarm’s student crew, is now harvesting the sunflowers and creating bouquets, which are available for purchase via a pay-what-you-wish donation. All money collected will be donated to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

How to purchase sunflowers

  • The bouquets are available at Lafayette’s campus farm stand, which is located near the corner of McCartney and High streets, next to Lafayette’s College Store in Easton, on Fridays from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunflowers (as well as LaFarm produce) are also available to purchase online for pickup. Additional flowers will be available for picking and purchase this fall.

LaFarm

The cornerstone of Lafayette's sustainable food loop

LaFarm provides healthy food to the community, multidisciplinary student engagement through classroom participation and academic research

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Categorized in: Community, Faculty and Staff, Featured News, News and Features, Sustainability

1 Comment

  1. Jeff Ruthizer '62 says:
    August 22, 2022 at 1:10 pm

    The College and Jaime Mattikow ’86 the head of Burpee are to be commended for this effort. If there is any way alumni all over the country can buy into his huge Ukrainian support endeavor through the purchase of special Burpee sunflowers seed packages, or even just buying beautiful shots of the Lafayette sunflowers fields by the College’s expert photographer, let us know.

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