Alexander Valley Ladies Aid Presents 2021 Friend of Youth Award to Duskie Estes

Established in 1911, the Alexander Valley Ladies Aid is a civic organization, dedicated to the local Alexander Valley community.  Each year they present a Friends of Youth Award to a notable person who has worked to aid the children of the community.

This year, the award goes to Duskie Estes, Executive Director of Farm to Pantry, based in Healdsburg, CA. Since her arrival to the organization, she has created and deepened multiple opportunities for youth to be involved. Her key accomplishments pertinent to this award include:

1.  Creating the outdoors as an alternative learning environment. With students being glued to their zoom screens over the past year trying to learn, Duskie has created additional opportunities for students to learn about nutrition and to see the impact of their work. In a recent field trip with their class, students actually said they were thankful for the opportunity to get away from their screens.

2. Teaching by example. Ms. Estes models the crucial need to serve your community. Students engage in gleaning healthy foods. they learn about how the foods are distributed to as well as whom, such as seniors, families who do not have the funds, etc.

3. Creating opportunities for high school students to develop their own service project.  Farm to Pantry has worked with high schoolers to develop a yearlong service learning project. These projects are their own ideas and are approved by Farm to Pantry. They then work together to accomplish the goals set forth. This creates a project-based learning opportunity.

The Alexander Valley Ladies Aid organization aids in the maintenance of the Sonoma County Historic Monument Alexander Valley Community Church, awards college scholarships to local high school graduates, and extends donations to local charities.