News
Independence, Inc. plants juneberry bushes to assist others and teach self-sustaining skills to local people
Scott Wagar
06/24/2014
On Friday morning, as heavy rains fell on the grounds of the Bottineau Winter Park, around a dozen individuals stood in the drenching rain doing something that was very important to them, planting juneberry bushes that will assists individuals with disabilities to learn self-sustaining skills that will grant them an income.
This project was established by Independence, Inc. out of Minot, in association with Annie’s House and Pride Dairy. The goal of the three entities is to allow individuals with disabilities to care and nurture the juneberries, harvest them and then sell them to Pride Dairy for the store’s juneberry products.
Independence, Inc., a non-profit organization with the mission statement to assist in advocating for the freedom of choice for individuals with disabilities to learn independently through the removal of all barriers, created the juneberry project to assist adaptive people in learning skills that can make them more independent in the manner that they want to be.
Through the project, it is Independence, Inc.’s goal to teach these individuals that they can be involved in the project where one needs skills to conduct gardening, while at the same time make a profit, which grants a self-sustaining life.
On Friday, a group of volunteers from Independence, Inc. and the Bottineau Winter Park came together and planted 90 juneberry bushes on the sides of one of the park’s adaptive hiking trails. It is the goal of the two entities to plant over two and half miles of juneberry bushes in the park in the next two and a half years.