By Chris Love, Corvallis
To build community, vote for Laura Garber for Senate District 43.
If you live in Senate District 43 and believe building a better community is far more important than perpetuating divisive partisan politics, please seriously consider voting for Independent candidate and local farmer Laura Garber. Laura’s key goal in running for the Senate is to nurture at the state level the productive connections across community lines that she has spearheaded in Ravalli County for almost 20 years.
Laura’s website, (www.garber4mtcommunity.net) reveals the breadth and creativity of her experience building and benefiting community. Through Homestead Organics, the farm she co-owns with her husband, Laura has created ongoing experiential on-farm learning projects for youth and families from the Linda Massa Youth Home, the YMCA GUTS program — and even kindergarten students in the “Kinder-Gardeners” program. She also engages high school student volunteers to harvest and deliver her fresh vegetables to seniors through the Meals on Wheels program, bridging the generation gap via the common denominator of food. Laura has also led community-building workshops in Hamilton, and beginning Sept. 12, will co-facilitate a Bitterroot college adult education course based on a cutting-edge MIT leadership program that explores ways participants can encourage their desired future to emerge as reality.
And Laura is no stranger to cooperative economic work at the state level. She has helped found and/or served on boards of statewide cooperatives such as The Montana Poultry Growers Cooperative, Loyal to Local Community and Agriculture Cooperative, AERO (Alternative Energy Resources Organization), MOCAC (Montana Organic Commodities Advisory Council), Triple Divide Organic Seeds Cooperative, the Montana Organic Association, Ravalli County Right to Farm and Ranch Board, and the Center for Spiritual Life Bitterroot. A Western Agriculture Research Center Advisory Council member, she has encouraged Montana State University’s School of Agriculture to include Industrial Hemp in statewide agricultural research programs to explore its potential to increase agricultural jobs and production and improve local economies.
But what really sets Laura apart as a candidate is this: To her, modeling a way to campaign for creating civil discussion, stimulating the exchange of promising ideas and moving toward action that benefits all is, quite honestly, far more important than “winning” anything — an argument, or even an election. No matter what happens in November, Laura will continue to do the good work that matters to her: bringing folks together to share ideas, build and benefit community. How refreshing. And how ironic, that come November 6, this might be the best reason of all to vote for Independent candidate Laura Garber for Montana Senate District 43.