Sheaux Fresh Sustainable Foods is a family owned business that produces and sells organic fruits, vegetables, and eggs in areas of New Orleans where access to healthy foods is most limited. Started by Thaddaeus and Tamara Prosper, Sheaux Fresh believes that people will buy what is convenient and affordable.
As the areas Sheaux Fresh operates in are generally blighted communities, there are empty lots that provide growing space for gardens. With a goal of improving the health of the overall community, in addition to selling fresh foods, they currently build custom gardens, teach gardening classes and provide gardening help and advice to those need guidance.
Sheaux Fresh was experiencing overwhelming demand for their produce and services and decided to start a second garden. The Prospers turned to Kickstarter, a crowdfunding website popular among social entrepreneurs and artists. In just one month, Sheaux Fresh exceeded their goal of $5,000, raising $5,500 from 113 backers. Sheaux Fresh is also participating in the SENO New Ventures Accelerator Program and has partnered with the Tulane School of Architecture for additional resources.
Kickstarter has been successfully utilized to fund a number of local entrepreneurial and artistic projects including Swoon‘s Musical Architecture, The New Movement comedy group’s “Hell Yes Fest,” and Protei’s oil spill cleaning robot.
Tippy Tippens, another SENO Fellow and founder of MATTER L3C is sharing her expertise on crowdfunding at a Skillshare class on September 28th. Tippy used Kickstarter to fund her BirdProject following the BP Oil Spill in 2010.