GILROY
– Because it has sold vegetable seedlings since 1978, Headstart
Nursery is no stranger to helping farms get off to a good
start.
GILROY – Because it has sold vegetable seedlings since 1978, Headstart Nursery is no stranger to helping farms get off to a good start.
The nursery, located on the 4800 block of Monterey Street, is getting accustomed to helping schools and churches fare better, too.
This fall, Headstart raised 14,000 poinsettias, half of which will get sold to nonprofit organizations at a discount rate, so they can be resold for fund raising.
It’s a system that nursery owner and operator Randy Costa of Gilroy has had in place for about five years now. And, more and more Gilroy schools are catching on to it.
“Originally this was more of a commercial thing. Growers ran out of space and asked us to grow on contract,” Costa said. “At one point we raised 80,000 poinsettias.”
As demand for Headstart’s other seedlings grew, Costa decided to scale back poinsettia production to as few as 5,000.
“We were running out of space,” Costa explained. “Things slow down in fall, so we were really just growing poinsettias to keep workers employed. That’s about the time we got the idea to sell them at a discount to nonprofits.”
This year three Gilroy schools – Rucker Elementary, Luigi Aprea Elementary and St. Mary Parish School – all held fund-raising campaigns using the 6-inch, red poinsettias from Headstart.
For St. Mary parent Jennifer Speno, organizing the poinsettia sale not only helps her raise between $1,000 to $3,000 annually for the school and its programs, it helps her meet the required 50 hours of volunteer time parents must contribute yearly. This year 580 poinsettias were sold.
“This (fund-raiser) is becoming more and more popular for schools,” says Speno. “It doesn’t take a whole lot of time, maybe 10 to 15 hours for the month.”
A poinsettia fund-raiser is especially useful for St. Mary supporters who have enough of the flowers, but want to donate more. Poinsettias can be purchased and donated to the parish which will use them to decorate the church over the holidays.
“Someone this year bought 60 plants for the parish,” Speno said.
The downturn in the economy has led to a drop in poinsettia sales, at least in the case of St. Mary’s, school spokesperson Vicky Brinkman said.
“It’s been the same for all of our fund-raisers,” said Brinkman. “But any amount we make is better than nothing, so we’re always grateful.”
The school’s poinsettia drive has wrapped up, but because of the lag in sales Speno said she will continue to take orders for a time.
“Our two major deliveries have happened, but if anyone still wants a plant they can order one,” Speno said.
To contact Speno, call the school at 842-2827.
